Experts said there was no point in seeking the death penalty because the women would probably die in prison during the long appeal process. A plea bargain was also out; any prison term would be tantamount to a life sentence.
After two years in custody, the defendants appeared gray and frail during the trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court downtown.
Prosecutors said Golay, a former Santa Monica real estate agent, and the Hungarian-born Rutterschmidt, a longtime Hollywood resident who once owned a coffee shop with her husband, targeted the most vulnerable people in society because their deaths would not raise a stir.
The women had known each other for at least 20 years before their arrests, police and others say. They allegedly were partners in a number of bogus lawsuits before embarking on the murder scheme, authorities say.
A Texas native known for her elaborate hairstyles and youthful dress, Golay fronted the money for the cold-blooded enterprise and is believed to have pocketed most of the insurance proceeds, which infuriated Rutterschmidt, according to acquaintances and investigators.
No witnesses to either killing came forward and details about the deaths were scant, leaving prosecutors to painstakingly build a case on fragmentary testimony and a long paper trail of insurance documents and rent checks.
The death of Vados, 73, was particularly mysterious. The crime scene was washed clean in a downpour, and traffic investigators set the killing aside as an unsolved hit-and-run.
The jury appeared to be struggling with Rutterschmidt's alleged role in the Vados killing. On Wednesday, they asked to have read back testimony by an apartment manager that she had cried over his death.
Sklar had maintained that she and the homeless man were friends, but prosecutors said Rutterschmidt lured Vados into the women's web and helped Golay house and monitor him while the insurance policies turned incontestable.
The evidence in McDavid's murder was much more direct. Three surveillance cameras caught a silver station wagon turning into a Westwood alley the night that McDavid was found dead there. As in the Vados' killing, McDavid had been crushed to death, his body twisted, and police said the scene was free of the skid marks and broken glass typically left by a hit-and-run.
