Wife Tearfully Begs Jurors to Spare Life of Convicted Murderer

The wife of a former Marine convicted of slaying a young Irvine woman pleaded with jurors Tuesday to spare her husband’s life, telling them that he hates himself for what he has done.

Luann Sellers, who married Robert L. Sellers six years ago, unaware that he had killed 22-year-old Savannah Leigh Anderson just a year before, said that he has always been the perfect husband and father but that he was tormented by nightmares and depression over something he told her he could not talk about.

“He hates himself for what he’s done; he hates himself for what he’s done to me and the children,” Luann Sellers said, breaking down into tears.

Luann Sellers was the last witness called by defense attorney Jennifer L. Keller at the penalty phase of Sellers’ trial. Jurors are scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday to determine whether he should be given the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Sellers, 28, was convicted two weeks ago of first-degree murder in the May 14, 1979, slaying of Anderson in her apartment. The jury also found that the killing had occurred in the course of a rape, making Sellers eligible for the death penalty.

Sellers was not arrested until five years after the killing, when Irvine police discovered that his fingerprints matched a print left in the victim’s blood on a bathroom wall.

A Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton in 1979, Sellers was moonlighting as a security guard at an Irvine apartment complex when he became infatuated with Anderson. He has admitted he went berserk and killed her when she rebuffed his advances while he was on duty late at night.

He also told police he returned to her apartment two hours later and sexually molested the corpse.

Defense attorney Keller argued that jurors should not find that he had committed rape because the woman was already dead.

‘Continuous Course of Action’

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King argued that the sexual molestation was part of a continuous course of action that began when Sellers first attacked her.

During the penalty phase, prosecutor King offered no evidence and told the jurors that the murder itself was aggravating enough to warrant the death penalty. Sellers has no previous criminal record.

For four days Keller put on a parade of character witnesses who praised Sellers as a kind person, hard worker and good husband and father.

Sellers and his wife have a 3-year-old son, Nathan, and Sellers has helped raise his wife’s 9-year-old daughter from a former marriage, Nicole. Both children were in court Tuesday.

The stepdaughter testified that Sellers was a good father who helped her with her schoolwork.

It was Luann Sellers’ closing testimony that brought out an outpouring of sentiment for the defendant. The stepdaughter and half a dozen other family members and friends cried uncontrollably as they listened to her tell how caring Sellers has been throughout their marriage.

“He was always there for the children,” she said. “They need their dad; they need him real bad.”

The defendant’s wife said she is torn in several directions--sorrow for the victim’s parents, anger at Sellers, yet deep love for him, too.

Keller, who also wept, asked a final question: “What will it do to you if the jury decides the state should execute your husband?”

Luann Sellers answered: “I couldn’t handle it; I would go insane.”

King did not cross-examine Luann Sellers or any of the other character witnesses.

After the defense rested, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald instructed the jurors not to watch a Tuesday night television movie called “Penalty Phase,” a courtroom drama.