Stockton man dies in Sacramento prison 45 years after receiving death penalty
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jerry Bunyard died in a California prison 45 years after receiving the death penalty.
- He was convicted of murder for the death of his pregnant wife and her unborn child.
- CDCR officials said there are 567 death penalty inmates in California prisons.
A 76-year-old Stockton man died Friday while incarcerated at California State Prison, Sacramento, 45 years after he was sentenced to death for killing his pregnant wife and their unborn child.
Medical staff pronounced Jerry Thomas Bunyard dead at 4:44 p.m. Friday at an outside medical facility, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday afternoon in a news release. Bunyard was on death row at California State Prison, Sacramento, the facility known as New Folsom.
CDCR officials said the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office would determine Bunyard’s official cause of death. CDCR did not identify the medical facility or say why Bunyard had been taken there, and did not respond to a question about his death before their announcement on Monday morning.
Bunyard was convicted in San Joaquin County of murdering his wife, Elaine, who was nine months pregnant, and their unborn daughter on Nov. 1, 1979, the Los Angeles Times reported. Bunyard hired another man to kill his 28-year-old wife because Bunyard was unhappy in the marriage, the Stockton Record reported.
California has not executed a prisoner since 2006, but the death penalty remained legal and prosecutors continued to pursue it in select cases. CDCR phased out death row at San Quentin State Prison and transferred more than 500 people sentenced to death to prisons across California.
After his first-degree murder conviction in San Joaquin County, Bunyard was transferred to CDCR custody on Feb. 2, 1981, and placed on condemned status.
CDCR officials said there are 567 condemned prison inmates in California prisons.
