Death Row inmate Royce L. Scott, condemned for the brutal rape and murder of a 78-year-old woman in her Palm Springs home in 1992, has died while being treated for an undisclosed medical illness, state prison officials announced Tuesday.

Scott had been transferred from San Quentin’s Death Row to an outside hospital for treatment when he succumbed to his illness on Sunday night.

Scott is the third Death Row inmate to die in a week.

On Dec. 19, James Odle — condemned to death nearly four decades ago for killing Pinole Police Officer Floyd “Bernie” Swartz during a shootout — died of natural causes while being treated at an outside hospital, officials said.

Days earlier, on Dec. 15, Noel Jesse Plata, a Southern California gang member, sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering an 18-year-old college student during a home invasion robbery, was found dead in his cell at San Quentin.

Read More →