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Padilla Pays Speed Freak Killer For Information Leading To Remains

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Wesley Shermantine, one of the speed freak killers, is asking for thousands of dollars to reveal where more bodies are buried.

On Monday Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla signed his first check for Shermantine. It's a $2,000 payment for information leading authorities to victims' remains. And if the convicted serial killer keeps talking, the bounty hunter says he'll send more.

"I've never really set a limit on it," said Padilla.

The payment is going out after CBS13 received a letter from Shermantine stating the money he was promised was never sent to San Quentin.

"For the record, I see Leonard Padilla claiming he has paid me $33,000. As of today, Leonard Padilla has not paid me a dime," said Shermantine.

Padilla says Shermantine called yesterday apologizing for the demanding tone of the letter.

"He says: 'I'm sorry about the way that the situation sounded as far as the, I haven't gotten a dime,'" said Padilla

Padilla says Shermantine wants the money to pay for his parents' grave markers, to support his kids, and to buy things on death row.

"Toothpaste, just hygiene things," said Padilla.

"Defendants on death row have many more benefits than they do in the general population," said attorney Donald Heller.

Death row inmates cost taxpayers three times more than general population inmates, according to attorney Heller. He wrote California's death penalty in 1977, and now wants it repealed because of the expense.

Heller says death row inmates housed at San Quentin State Prison enjoy far too many perks they don't deserve.

"Foods are better, they have their own personal TVs, they have a room to themselves, they have better visitation, they have better accommodations," said Heller.

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