(KRON) - A man convicted of murdering two women in California in 1986 interrupted his own sentencing hearing on Tuesday by singing in front of his victims' families.
David Misch, 63, was convicted last month of murdering Jennifer Duey, 18, and Michelle Xavier, 20. The naked bodies of the two young women were dumped in a remote area of Fremont in the 1980s.
On Tuesday, family members were reading their victim impact statements when Misch disrupted the proceeding by singing inside the courtroom, prosecutors said. Sheriff's deputies then removed Misch from the courtroom.
Prosecutors said Misch displayed disrespectful behavior purposefully so that he would be thrown out. At most sentencing hearings, murder victims' family members are allowed to read statements in front of a judge to describe their pain, loss and sadness over losing a loved one. Victim impact statements give a voice to murder victims.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts said, "David Misch’s behavior in court was not only reprehensible but a blatant display of no remorse for taking the lives of Jennifer Duey and Michelle Xavier. The families of these two young women have been waiting nearly 40 years to
receive justice for their tragic and senseless murders."
Last month, a jury found Misch guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
Duey and Xavier attended a birthday party dinner together on Feb. 2, 1986. Hours later, the women were found dead by a motorcyclist along a road in Fremont. Police said they had been shot and stabbed.
At the time, Misch was a drug addict who lived in the Fremont area and was known to burglarize businesses, investigators said.
The case went cold for 15 years until a detective found Misch's DNA under Duey's fingernails. "Mr. Misch claimed that he had seen the two young women being kidnapped at gunpoint and tried to save them. He used this as an explanation for the presence of his DNA in this case," the Alameda County District Attorney's Office wrote.
Misch's DNA and lies were presented as evidence at trial, prosecutors said. Another piece of evidence stemmed from one of the victim's hands, which had a partial license plate number written on it. The plate matched a vehicle associated with Misch, prosecutors said.
Roberts said, "Thanks to the jury and this conviction, Mr. Misch will be held accountable. I want to recognize the prosecution team for their professionalism and hard work on this very complex case, starting with Deputy District Attorney Allyson Donovan."
Misch will begin serving two sentences of 25 years to life consecutively in state prison after he completes a sentence of 18 years to life he is currently serving for a third murder.
Misch is also linked to the disappearance of Michaela Joy Garecht, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a Hayward parking lot on Nov. 19, 1988.
According to the FBI, Garecht was with her friends at Rainbow Market when a man moved her scooter closer to his car. When Garecht tried to get the scooter back, he grabbed her and drove away with her in his car. She was never seen alive again. In 2020, Misch was charged with the girl's murder.