The Trial of Fred and Verna

In California, for someone to be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole, their crime must meet certain criteria called special circumstances. In Fred's case, there were three alleged special circumstances. There was more than one victim. That was special circumstance number one. Special circumstances numbers two and three were the motive of financial gain,. The insurance payouts from the freshly-enched policies on Verna and Doug. If Fred was convicted and any of the special circumstances were found to apply, he'd be eligible for the most severe sentence. Stan Rodin, the district attorney, was hoping to send Fred to the gas chamber at San Quentin.