Bianchi was one of the two Hillside Stranglers — the other was his cousin, Angelo Buono. Bianchi was in the Washington prisons because of a similar murder he committed in Bellingham, around the same time. In the corrections field, we attorneys handled both habeas corpus cases and civil rights claims. In habeas cases the prisoners raise claims that their conviction or sentence violated some constitutional right. In civil rights cases, they assert that the conditions of their confinement violate the constitution or federal laws. As I recall (it’s been probably 8 or 9 years since I dealt with him) Bianchi raised both a habeas corpus petition challenging his conviction, and later a civil rights case about some aspect of his prison conditions.
As you can probably guess from the lack of blaring news headlines, I won the habeas corpus case and Bianchi is still in the big house. (No big deal – we win 99.9% of our cases, as long as they don’t involve the death sentence.) His civil rights case was a tougher affair, as I recall, but I managed to get that dismissed on a summary judgment motion. I talked with Bianchi in the course of these cases, usually on some scheduling matter. As I said, he was a charming man; quite intelligent and well-spoken. He did quite well arguing his case pro se. But of course he had that unfortunate character flaw.
