Despite the White family being well-off financially and living in a prestigious area of the city, Edward's older children - Joseph's half-brothers, one of whom, Earl, was a schizophrenic - grew up impoverished since their father was drug-addicted alcoholic suffering from memory loss.

Joseph's mother also drank alcohol while pregnant, resulting in his premature birth two months earlier, with the baby weighing only two kilograms and having to spend four weeks in an incubator.

Still, after the second child's birth, the couple began arguing, leading to Leroy abandoning the family in December 1970 and Joseph's mother remarrying to another man, Jean Walls.

In 1976, Danks returned to Bay City with his mother and stepfather, whereupon he got back into contact with his biological father and two half-brothers, Michael and Peter.

During this period, his mental state deteriorated rapidly, showing signs of hypochondriasis and clinical delirium: he constantly moved furniture around the house and deliberately short-circuited the electrical wiring in his home, claiming that he was being watched from the TV.

He refused any medical help, claiming that drug addiction was something normal in society, as he was convinced that President Ronald Reagan smoked 10,000 blunts a day.

However, after his release from prison two years prior, Peter had become a Jehovah's Witness, had married, and ceased any criminal activities, resulting in quarrels between the two and Joseph's eventual departure.

While imprisoned in the county jail, he displayed signs of OCD, constantly maintaining cleanliness in his cell and cleaning and washing his belongings several times a day.

[3] Following his arrival in Los Angeles, Danks began killing homeless men in the Koreatown neighborhood, whom he stabbed in the back with great force.

[4] A few hours after the attempted murder of Lyons, Danks killed another homeless man in his 50s on South Western Avenue, whose identity was never established.

In addition to his confessions, the main evidence incriminating Danks in the killings was his knife, the width, and the length of the blade, which coincided with the depths and wounds of the victims.

In one of the court hearings, he attacked his lawyer Larry Rivetz with a makeshift knife made from a toothbrush and razorblades, inflicting a superficial wound on him.

After undergoing treatment, his mental state improved, due to which he was transferred out of the hospital on August 23, 1990, to serve his life sentence at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi.

While awaiting trial, he remained in the Institution, where he continued to commit crimes: on November 12, 1991, a correctional officer searched through his cell and found a sharp plastic shank, about five inches long, hidden in the mattress of his bunk.

On July 12, at lunchtime, Danks attacked one of the guards, David Goodman, hitting him and trying to splash a cup of hot coffee on his face.

He also suffered from insomnia, screaming at night and keeping other inmates awake, and frequently attacked prison guards, whom he doused in his urine.

In 2004, his lawyers drew up an appeal to overturn his death sentence and asked for a retrial because two of the jurors at his second trial in 1993 had sought advice from clergy members of their parish.

[10] Offences of this kind were contrary to the rules to which juries are supposed to adhere, as it was prohibited for them to discuss the case outside of court, but the appeal was dismissed.

[12] On March 13, 2019, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, ordered a moratorium on the death penalty in the state, which dismantled the chambers at San Quentin indefinitely.