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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.

The most recent mugshot provided by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of serial killer Charles Ng, who is currently serving on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

The most recent mugshot provided by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of serial killer Charles Ng, who is currently serving on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

The state Supreme Court unanimously upheld the death sentence Thursday of Charles Ng, a serial killer who was convicted of kidnapping, rape and 11 murders. His victims were nine adults and two small children who were abducted from their homes in San Francisco and other Northern California communities over an eight-month period in 1984-85 and taken to a small cabin in Calaveras County, where their bodies were found in shallow graves.

Ng, now 61, is a former U.S. Marine who was first accused of robbing a Marine Corps armory in Hawaii in 1981. He escaped to California, was recaptured and convicted, and served 18 months in jail. He then headed to a cabin in the Sierra foothills with Leonard Lake, later charged as his partner in the killings.

The first to disappear were Harvey and Deborah Dubbs and their 16-month-old son Sean, last seen in their San Francisco apartment in July 1984. The victims also included two other San Francisco residents, Clifford Pereantau and Jeffrey Gerald; a Milpitas woman, Kathleen Allen, and her boyfriend, Michael Carroll; an engaged couple, Lonnie Bond and Brenda O'Connor, and their infant son, Lonnie Bond Jr., who lived near the killers' cabin in Wilseyville, and a friend, Scott Stapley, who was visiting the couple..

Prosecutors said Ng and Lake taunted their victims, videotaped them in tears, burned them and raped the women before killing them.

Lake committed suicide with a cyanide capsule before trial. Ng fled to Canada and was not extradited until 1991. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 in Orange County, where the case was transferred because of intense media coverage throughout Northern California.

Ng denied responsibility for the killings and blamed Lake, whom he described as a "survivalist" who was preparing for the end of the world by building shelters and stockpiling supplies. He sought to introduce evidence from Lake's diary suggesting he had committed all the killings, but the trial judge said other portions of the diary implicated Ng.

In Thursday's ruling upholding Ng's convictions and sentence, the court said the judge was entitled to exclude the entire diary as evidence because it was long, confusing and inconclusive.

Jurors heard evidence of Lake's "manipulative and psychopathic tendencies," and his "belief that it was okay to kill people," Justice Joshua Groban said in the 7-0 ruling. He said there was "overwhelming evidence" of Ng's guilt, including his own testimony.

Ng's appeal also challenged, as unduly prejudicial, a former coworker's testimony that Ng had talked about having guns at home and had recited, "No gun, no fun," "No kill, no thrill," and "Daddy dies, mommy cries, baby fries." But Groban said the testimony was relevant in a case in which the victims included two couples and their young children.

The court also rejected arguments that Ng should have been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, a conclusion drawn by one psychiatrist who examined him but rejected by others.

Another issue involved an odd interaction between jurors and a prosecution investigator. During a recess in the trial, the court said, a female juror told the investigator she liked the unusual ties he wore. They chatted, and other jurors later said they had asked to see his ties and he had shown them. The jurors said the case itself was never brought up, though one of Ng's lawyers said a relative of one of the victims was mentioned in a conversation.

The trial judge dismissed the first juror and replaced her with an alternate. Ng's lawyers said the contacts had violated his right to an impartial jury and asked for a mistrial. The judge refused, after questioning the jurors, and the Supreme Court upheld his decision.

The trial judge thoroughly questioned the jurors and the investigator and found that their interactions were "minimal and unrelated to the case ... with most of them focused on small talk around (the) neckties," Groban wrote. "The fairness of the trial was in no way affected by the misconduct."

Ng's appellate lawyer could not be reached for comment on the ruling.

The case is People v. Ng, S080276.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko

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