REDWOOD CITY, California—A career criminal accused by authorities of raping and killing six women in the 1970s yelled “I am not guilty!” to a jury at the start of his trial for two of the killings on Sept. 7 .
Rodney Halbower also yelled “I have never raped or murdered in my life!” to the jury in an outburst that briefly disrupted court proceedings, led to a request for a mistrial by his lawyer and claims by a prosecutor that the outburst was staged.
