State Supreme Court upholds death sentence for self-described prophet who killed 5 in Bay Area

The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence of Glenn Helzer, a self-described prophet who murdered five people in Contra Costa and Marin counties in what he described as a plan to bring about the second coming of Jesus.

In a unanimous ruling, Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero rejected a challenge to a sweeping police search of Helzer’s Concord home, and defense arguments that the trial judge should not have dismissed a prospective juror who said she was against the death penalty but might be able to vote for it.

While jurors who oppose capital punishment can take part in death penalty trials if they agree to keep an open mind, this juror said there was only a 1% chance she would vote for a death sentence. She said she would consider all the evidence but did not “repeatedly affirm that she could be a fair and impartial juror,” Guerrero said, so Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Mary Ann O’Malley was entitled to remove her from the jury pool.

And although officers seized some things unrelated to the case in their search of Helzer’s home, Guerrero said, their search warrant allowed them to recover a broad range of items related to the crimes, including guns and ammunition, and prosecutors were entitled to present them as evidence.

Helzer, now 53, left his job as a stockbroker in 1998, began taking drugs, and soon started describing himself as a prophet who would save the world from Satan with killings that would return Jesus Christ to Earth. He called himself and his followers the “Children of Thunder,” and, as the court described his attitude, he was prepared to “sacrifice a few to save billions.” 

In the summer of 2000, Helzer and his younger brother, Justin Helzer, went to the Concord home of a wealthy retired couple, Ivan Steinman, 85, and his wife, Annette Steinman, 78, in hopes of extorting $100,000 for their plan. After the couple initially refused to turn over the money, the brothers drugged them and they signed the checks. Glenn Helzer then slit Annette Steinman’s throat, and Justin Helzer battered her husband to death.

They gave the money to Glenn Helzer’s girlfriend, Selina Bishop, 22, daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, then went to her home and killed her. The three bodies were found dismembered in gym bags in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Fearing that Bishop’s mother, Jennifer Villarin, could identify him, Glenn Helzer went to her home in Marin County and fatally shot Villarin, 45, and her boyfriend, James Gamble, 54.

Glenn Helzer pleaded guilty to the five murder charges, then sought a life sentence but was sentenced to death by a jury in 2005. Justin Helzer pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was convicted and sentenced to death. He hanged himself with a bedsheet in his San Quentin State Prison cell in 2013. Their roommate, Dawn Godman, who admitted taking part in some of the crimes, testified for the prosecution and was sentenced to 38 years to life in prison.

California has 650 prisoners who have been sentenced to death. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions after taking office in 2019, but has not reduced any of the death sentences to life in prison by granting clemency.

Glenn Helzer’s lawyer, Jeanne Keevan-Lynch, declined to comment on Monday’s ruling.

The case is People v. Helzer, No. S132256.

Reach Bob Egelko: begelko@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @BobEgelko