Jury Rules Killer of Wife Sane

An Orange County Superior Court jury took three hours Thursday to decide that an Anaheim Hills engineer, who confessed to killing his wife while she slept, was sane at the time of the murder, the first of more than 50 he said he intended to commit.

David Lee Schoenecker, 50, faces a possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Oct. 4 by Judge Robert Fitzgerald.

The same jury found Schoenecker guilty this week of first-degree murder in the May 6, 1989, shooting death of his 40-year-old wife, Gail Mae.

Jurors also found that a special circumstances allegation of lying in wait was true.

Defense attorneys said they plan to ask for a new trial and said the special circumstances finding was inappropriate.

“It was a real serious crime, and this is the appropriate verdict,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans said.

Ronald Y. Butler, Schoenecker’s lead attorney, had argued that his client suffered from a major mental disorder that caused obsessive-compulsive psychosis and gross impairment of his moods and rationale.

It was Schoenecker’s signed confession sent to the Orange County Register that led to the discovery of his wife’s body in their Anaheim Hills home. Investigators also found an envelope marked “The List” that included the names of 54 people Schoenecker claimed had wronged him and who he intended to kill.