although he never expressed any regret or remorse over having murdered their sons, purposefully withholding information his victims' families sought and seemingly deriving pleasure from their discontent. On one occasion, Bonin informed the mother of victim Sean King that her son had been his favorite victim as "he was such a screamer". Shortly after Bonin's arrival at San Quentin State Prison, he became close friends with serial killer Lawrence Bittaker, whom he had previously been incarcerated with at Los Angeles County jail. Bonin also became acquainted with convicted murderers Randy Kraft (one of the other two murderers who shared with Bonin the nickname "Freeway Killer"), Douglas Clark, and Jimmy Lee Smith. Bonin also contended to both his defense attorneys and to several people with whom he corresponded while upon death row that Butts had been the actual ringleader behind the murders, and that he had simply been Butts' accomplice. These claims would be refuted by the prosecutor at Bonin's Los Angeles County murder trial, Stirling Norris, who recollected shortly before Bonin's execution: "He was the leader, and he chose weak people he could use." The method of Bonin's execution was superseded by lethal injection by the state of California in 1992, following the execution of Robert Alton Harris (the first inmate California had executed since 1967). Harris had exhibited evident symptoms of discomfort for up to four minutes throughout his fifteen-minute execution in the gas chamber. These symptoms had included convulsions. As such, the state of California opted to use lethal injection as an alternate method of execution to the gas chamber, branding the gas chamber a "cruel and unusual" method of execution. Appeals Bonin filed numerous appeals against his convictions and sentencing, citing issues such as jury prejudice, the potential of jury inflammation via listening to numerous victim impact statements (to which his defense counsel had offered to stipulate), and inadequate defense as the bases for each appeal. For these appeals, Bonin hired new lawyers, who initially submitted contentions that his previous defense attorney, Charvet, had provided inadequate defense at his trials by failing to place sufficient emphasis upon Bonin's bipolar disorder and the sexual abuse he had endured as a child. These lawyers contended that had Charvet placed further emphasis on these issues, Bonin would have been "humanized" in the eyes of his juries. Each successive appeal proved unsuccessful, with the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to overturn Bonin's