Man Convicted of Raping Woman Who Killed Self

An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated less than four hours before convicting a Westminster man Wednesday of raping a woman who later committed suicide.

It was the third trial for Ty Glen Clayton, 34, on charges that he raped Kimberly Prentice, 21, of Huntington Beach in June, 1980. She testified at his first trial, which ended in a deadlocked jury, and then killed herself a short time later with a drug overdose.

Clayton’s conviction following a second trial in 1981 was overturned by an appellate court because the jury had been told of the suicide and the fact that Clayton, who has served as his own attorney, had already been sent to prison for three years for rape.

Authorities claimed that Prentice had been lured to Clayton’s apartment and attacked, while the defendant claimed that Prentice had agreed to have sex and then later made up the rape story.

After Wednesday’s verdict in the two-week trial, Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin set sentencing for April 22. Clayton, who was convicted of attacking Prentice two months after he had been released from prison, faces up to 13 years in prison, including four years for violating parole for the 1977 conviction and a year for having two felony convictions.