Before the sentence was imposed, DeAngelo was given the opportunity to speak. He took it.
He told the court, addressing the victims and families: “I’ve listened to all of your statements, each one of them, and I am truly sorry to everyone I’ve hurt.”
The statement was brief. It did not include an account of the crimes, an explanation of his actions, or a more detailed expression of remorse. It was the kind of statement that could have been scripted or could have been spontaneous; there is no way for an observer to assess its authenticity.
The response to his statement varied among the people in the courtroom. Some survivors who have spoken publicly about the hearing have described feeling that the statement was inadequate — that a brief expression of regret, delivered after forty-five years of the crimes and more than forty years of eluding identification, did not correspond to the scale of what had been done. Others have said that hearing him speak the words, whatever their adequacy, was meaningful after decades of silence on his part.
Judge Bowman spoke at length before imposing the sentence, addressing DeAngelo directly and characterizing the crimes in terms that reflected the sustained reading of the case record required of the presiding judge. The remarks were described in press coverage as unusually pointed in their moral language, reflecting the extraordinary character of the case before the court.
DeAngelo was taken from the courtroom to begin serving his sentence. He was transferred to California State Prison at Corcoran, in Kings County, in the months following sentencing. He is held there as of the time of this writing, without any legal prospect of release.