Judge Urges Death for Man in Rape, Beating, Fatal Burning

A judge Thursday recommended the gas chamber for a Palmdale man who said he was possessed by an evil alter ego when he raped a woman, beat her into a coma, then set her bed afire.

James Scott, 26, was sentenced in 1986 to 26 years in prison for raping, beating and burning 24-year-old Wanda Jensen. He was charged with first-degree murder after the comatose victim died in 1987 of complications from her burns.

The murder charge was heard in a non-jury trial before Superior Court Judge Margaret M. Grignon, who recommended the death penalty Thursday. Grignon will review the case before she imposes final sentencing on May 18.

Scott surrendered to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies four days after the April, 1986, attack on Jensen. He told investigators that “Tony” took over his body and caused him to rape the woman, beat her with a baseball bat and set her bed afire.

“He does horrible things,” Scott was quoted as saying. “He’s inside me, and he comes out at night.”

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill said that story eventually hurt Scott’s defense, and Scott abandoned it during the murder trial.

“No one bought Tony,” Cahill said. “Instead of being remorseful, he came into court with this wild story.”

At the murder trial, Scott maintained that poor medical care caused Jensen’s death, so he should be found innocent.

Defense attorney William Allen Clark had agreed to a non-jury trial, saying the facts of the case were so appalling that the average juror would be too horrified to render a fair verdict.

The possible death penalty for the charges made a non-jury trial unusual, but not unprecedented in the state.

In 1984, nurse Robert Diaz was convicted of murdering 12 elderly nursing home patients by lethal injections of a muscle relaxant. Riverside County Superior Court Judge John H. Bernard sentenced Diaz to death at the non-jury trial.