to second degree murder in exchange for testimony against Rutherford and Beardslee, and was sentenced to 15 years to life. She was paroled in 2015. Bill Forrester was acquitted and charges against a fifth person were dropped before trial. Beardslee was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The defense tried to appeal on the grounds of inadequate defense since the original lawyer quit the case, and on grounds of mental defect due to a head injury from a falling tree in the Minnesota work farm accident when he was 21. Prosecutors noted that he was of above average intelligence although family members testified he had lifelong trouble expressing emotion and prison records indicate diagnoses of schizophrenia. Beardslee was executed on January 19, 2005. He was the first prisoner to be executed in California since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took office. Beardslee had no final words. Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Beardslee, stating that "we are not dealing here with a man who is so generally affected by his impairment that he cannot tell the difference between right and wrong." See also Capital punishment in California Capital punishment in the United States List of people executed in California List of people executed in the United States in 2005 List of serial killers in the United States References External links Donald Beardslee. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. Beardslee Killed By State of California Detailed description of his life and crimes 1943 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American criminals 21st-century executions by California 21st-century executions of American people Executed American serial killers Executed people from Missouri People convicted of murder by California People convicted of murder by Missouri People executed by California by lethal injection People from St. Louis People with schizophrenia