For the 2nd time in days, inmate on California's death row dies

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - For the second time in three days, a condemned inmate has died after decades on California’s death row, state correction officials announced on Tuesday.

Royce Lyn Scott, 62, had been on death row since 1997 for the murder and sexual assault of 78-year-old Della Morris in her home in Riverside County. His conviction included special circumstances of killing her while committing burglary, rape and sodomy.

Condemned inmate Royce Lyn Scott, 62, who had been on death row since 1997, died at an outside hospital on December 20, 2020, the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Scott died Sunday at an outside hospital. Officials said his cause of death will be determined by an autopsy, but foul play is not suspected.

Two days earlier, another inmate condemned to death nearly four decades ago for killing a police officer in Contra Costa County died of natural causes at age 71.

Prison officials said James Odle died at an outside hospital 37 years after he was sent to the nation’s largest death row at San Quentin State Prison, which has 708 condemned inmates.