Singleton’s Victim Denied Request for Court Meeting

An Orange County Superior Court commissioner ruled Wednesday that the woman Lawrence Singleton raped and mutilated cannot force the ex-convict to appear in an Orange County courtroom to discuss the $2.5 million in civil damages he owes her.

In a two-page letter to the court, Singleton said that because he lives more than 150 miles from Orange County and has no money to make the trip, the Orange County courts should not have jurisdiction in the case. Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer agreed.

But the attorney for Mary Bell Vincent vowed after the hearing that he would chase Singleton all over the country to make him pay something toward his $2.5-million debt.

“The reason Lawrence Singleton did not show here today is that he was probably afraid he would be shot,” said Mark E. Edwards, Vincent’s Tustin attorney. “But he can do more good for Mary Vincent if he is alive, healthy, and employed. If someone out there wants to continue to force Singleton to pay his debt to society, offer him a job and send us his paycheck.”

Vincent was 15 years old on Sept. 29, 1978, when Singleton picked her up hitch-hiking, raped her, hacked off her forearms with an ax and abandoned her in a remote area of Northern California. She recovered, and testified at Singleton’s 1979 trial. Singleton was convicted, but served less than eight years of his 14-year sentence before being paroled. His parole raised such a public outcry that for his own safety Singleton was forced to spend his year on parole living in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin Prison.

Singleton was believed to have moved to Florida, where he has relatives, after the end of his parolein April. He registered a Tampa address with Florida authorities.

Singleton’s two-page letter to Bauer, dated June 16, had a return address in Richmond, in Contra Costa County, Calif., but the address he listed on the letter was the parole office to which he formerly reported.

Robert Gore, spokesman for the Department of Corrections in Sacramento, said his office has not been in contact with Singleton since his release. And Vincent’s attorneys still are not sure where he is.

“I suppose we’ll begin by lookingin Contra Costa County,” Edwards said.

Edwards claimed in court that Singleton was served with papers to appear in Orange County on Wednesday while he was still living at the prison at San Quentin.

Vincent, who now lives in an undisclosed location in the Pacific Northwest, was awarded the $2.5 million last year in a court in Nevada, where she once lived. Singleton failed to contest the case. Orange County was the site of Wednesday’s hearing because it is the Superior Court closest to Edwards’ office.

Bauer said that if Singleton had lived within 150 miles of Orange County at the time he was served, Edwards might have a case for forcing his appearance. But San Quentin isn’t that close, and Edwards failed to prove that Singleton’s current location is within 150 miles, he said.

Edwards said he will appeal.

In the letter, Singleton accused Edwards of persisting in “abuse of the judicial process for his personal gain.” Singleton also noted that extra security would be needed if he appeared in court, which he said would cost the county thousands of dollars.

Singleton stated “under penalty of perjury” that he was writing the letter in Richmond. But there is no proof of that.

Commissioner Bauer, unaware that anyone would consider it important, threw away the envelope with the postmark, according to a court clerk.

“He could have sent it from anywhere in the world,” Edwards said.