Facts of the Crime:
Sentenced to death on March 21, 2001 in Riverside County for the April 22, 1999 strangulation slayings of his wife and three-year-old daughter for insurance money. The verdicts brought sobs from the audience. Kopatz's immediate family and his wife's relatives were at opposite sides of the courtroom. Kopatz slowly shook his head and talked to his lawyer. Prosecutor William Mitchell used mostly circumstantial evidence to prove that Kopatz used an electrical cord to strangle his wife Mary, 35, and daughter, Carley, and then tried to make the murders appear to be random attacks by a robber, rapist or some other vicious stranger.
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