SANTA ANA -- A man who killed a 12-year-old girl and four Los Angeles County women in the 1970s should be sentenced to death, a Santa Ana jury recommended Tuesday.

The panel deliberated for about two hours before reaching its recommendation in the trial of convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, 66. The panel had the option of recommending either death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Alcala has been convicted and sentenced to death twice before for killing 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, but both of his convictions were overturned on appeal.

He was convicted Feb. 25 for a third time of killing Samsoe, who was abducted while riding her bike to a ballet class on June 20, 1979.

He was also found guilty -- for the first time -- of killing Jill Barcomb, an 18-year-old runaway who was killed in the Hollywood Hills on Nov. 10, 1977; Georgia Wixted, a 27-year-old registered nurse killed on Dec. 16, 1978; Charlotte Lamb, 32, who was slain June 24, 1978; and Jill Parenteau, 21, who was killed June 14, 1979.

Alcala gave a brief closing argument earlier Tuesday, urging jurors to spare him the death penalty. As part of his argument, he played part of Arlo Guthrie's classic "Alice's Restaurant,'' in which the central character in the song says he wants to "kill, kill, kill.''

Guthrie's 18-minute musical monologue tells about being arrested for littering, being called up to fight in the Vietnam War and the character trying to get out of service by telling a military psychiatrist:

"Shrink, I want to kill.  I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, kill, kill, kill.''

Robert Samsoe, the brother of Robin Samsoe, stalked out of court as Alcala played the song.

It was unclear what point Alcala was trying to get across, but he told jurors they would become a "wannabe killer in waiting'' if they recommended death.

The glib, one-time "Dating Game'' contestant has been serving as his own attorney.

Earlier, Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy told jurors they had a rare chance to dispense justice by recommending Alcala's execution.

"He's an evil monster who knows what he's doing is wrong and doesn't care,'' Murphy said.

Murphy attacked Alcala's contention that he has a borderline personality disorder. Psychiatrist Dr. Richard Rappaport, in testimony for Alcala, offered that diagnosis to help explain Alcala's claim that he blacked out and could not remember killing the four Los Angeles County women and Robin Samsoe.

Murphy, who called that diagnosis "garbage,'' said Alcala had no empathy for his victims and killed them for pleasure -- more like a thrill- seeking sociopath. The only evidence that Alcala had amnesia about the slayings came from Alcala, he said.

"And I submit, so what if he is?'' Murphy asked.

Murphy noted that like most serial killers, Alcala collected "trophies,'' such as the earrings he took from many of his victims.

Murphy said Alcala grew up with a loving mother who gave him every advantage, from piano lessons to private school. He was popular and lettered in cross-country, Murphy told jurors.

The prosecutor revisited Alcala's vicious rapes of 8-year-old Tali Shapiro in 1968 and 15-year-old Monique Hoyt in 1979.

He also went through the gory details of how Alcala attacked Samsoe, Barcomb, Wixted, Lamb and Parenteau.

Murphy talked about how the murders shattered the lives of the victims' loved ones. Wixted's mother, for instance, spent the last 17 years of her life struggling with her grief, even having to be hospitalized for her mental health issues, Murphy said.

"The grief literally drove her mother crazy, and what weight do you give a mother's grief?'' Murphy said.

Murphy also noted that letters written by friends Alcala read to the jury in his defense were written in 1971 and came from people he knew in New York where he fled to escape prosecution for raping Tali Shapiro. While in New York, Alcala lived under the alias John Berger and attended film school at New York University, Murphy said.

He asked the jury to imagine the terror of Robin Samsoe as she realized he was not taking her to her ballet class, but instead on a long drive to Sierra Madre where he left her body to be ravaged by wild animals.

"He took that beautiful young girl with that beautiful young smile and bashed in her face,'' Murphy said.

"He had every advantage as a child and adult and he decided to do it anyway because he felt like it,'' Murphy told jurors. "You take care of business on this and you make sure Rodney Alcala is held accountable for this.''

Alcala told jurors that if they had any "lingering doubt'' about his guilt they should not recommend his execution. He rambled through some of the arguments he made during the trial, trying to cast doubt on whether earrings found in a pouch he owned pouch were connected to his victims. Charlotte Lamb's DNA was found on one of the earrings in Alcala's pouch and Robin Samsoe's mother testified that two gold-ball earrings in the pouch belonged to her daughter.

He said the jurors would become "de facto killers'' if they recommended his execution. He also noted hundreds of people have been sent to Death Row since capital punishment was reinstated in California in the 1970s, though only 13 have been executed.

"If you decide the death penalty is the appropriate punishment you shouldn't feel too good about it,'' Alcala said.

He argued that he was twice before sent to Death Row and the convictions were overturned and that by recommending the death penalty again the jury would be putting the families through the agony of a drawn-out legal process.

"They'll have to wait another 15 years and there's a good chance it will be overturned,'' Alcala said.

"But if you chose life in prison you will end the matter now,'' he said. "The families of the victims will have closure after 30 years. This will be the most important decision you will ever have to make so choose wisely.