Motive for Double Slaying Disputed : Final Arguments Given in Trial of Deaf Suspect

Lawyers on both sides at the Ronald James Blaney Jr. trial agree that the young deaf man was upset that his girlfriend had broken off their relationship. But in closing arguments Monday, they disagreed about why he killed her and and her mother at their Santa Ana home two years ago.

Blaney’s lawyers claim that the May 4, 1987, stabbing deaths of Priscilla Vinci, 33, and her mother, Josephine Vinci, 65, were committed in the heat of passion, killings, perhaps triggered by Blaney suffering an epileptic seizure.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert H. Gannon told jurors at the Santa Ana trial that the women’s deaths were a “cold, calculated” plan.

“If he couldn’t have Priscilla, nobody could have her; and Josephine Vinci wasn’t going to stop him,” Gannon said.

Blaney, 32, of Anaheim is accused of murdering both women and torturing the younger one. If jurors convict him of first-degree murder and find that he tortured Priscilla Vinci, he will automatically be sentenced to life without parole, instead of 25 years to life.

The women were stabbed more than a dozen times each with a carving knife, a smaller kitchen knife and a fondue pick. The physical evidence showed that the melee occurred in several different rooms. Prosecutors allege that Priscilla Vinci almost made it to the door once, and Josephine Vinci had tried to make a telephone call for help.

Blaney, who has been in custody since his arrest a few days after the killings, sat upright in his chair Monday, his gaze glued to the sign language interpreter who has related to Blaney the testimony and lawyers’ statements throughout the trial.

For weeks, the jurors have listened to defense testimony about Blaney’s difficulties since childhood in dealing with his deafness, and how brain damage and mental illness probably played a role in the killings.

But Monday, Gannon shifted the focus from Blaney to the crime, again showing jurors the color photographs of the women’s bodies.

Because Josephine Vinci suffered fewer blows, Gannon theorized, she probably was killed first. The daughter suffered more injuries, the prosecutor alleged, because Blaney wanted her to suffer.

“He was angry; he wanted to inflict upon Priscilla the ultimate price . . . extreme, cruel, prolonged physical pain,” Gannon said.

Gannon also pointed to Blaney’s actions after the incident: He showered at the Vinci home, changed out of his bloody clothes, took money from the Vincis and left with their house keys.

Blaney and Priscilla Vinci, who was also deaf, had dated regularly the year before, but the young woman had told him she wanted to break off the relationship and be more like brother and sister. Some members of the deaf community observing the trial contend that Priscilla Vinci had never considered herself Blaney’s girlfriend.

Vinci’s family had been upset with Blaney because of his volatile temper, which at least once resulted in his striking Priscilla. The day of the killings, Blaney had communicated to her through telephone equipment for the deaf that: “I’m sorry, but you will suffer more from your problems because you won’t resolve them.”

Blaney drove to his mother’s home in Arizona after the slayings and immediately confessed to his family. But he claimed that he was unaware the women had died.

Deputy Public Defender James S. Egar has presented medical opinion on the witness stand that Blaney was not conscious of what he was doing because he had gone into a seizure. Egar claims that at most Blaney should be convicted of manslaughter, the crime for a heat-of-passion killing, which carries less than a 10-year-sentence.

Egar’s closing argument is scheduled to continue today.