SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A man who previously served jail time for murder has been convicted by a California jury in the 1980s slayings of three girls.
John Michael Nissensohn, 62, was found guilty of first-degree murder by an El Dorado County jury Thursday in the 1989 death of Kathy Graves, 15, and the 1981 deaths of Tammy Jarschke, 13, and Tanya Jones, 14.
Due to California's special circumstance laws, because Nissensohn was found guilty of multiple murders and convicted of murder once before, he is eligible for the death penalty.
Nissensohn was convicted in 1991 in Washington state of murdering Sally Jo Tsaggaris, 46, and was due to be released at the end of his prison term, in 2008. At that time, the El Dorado County district attorney consolidated the three murder cases to be tried together, The Sacramento Bee reported Monday.
The El Dorado County jury also found additional "special circumstance" allegations to be true in the slaying of Tsaggaris, the county district attorney's office said in a release.
The penalty phase of Missensohn's trial scheduled to begin Nov. 12, the newspaper said.
