Jury Urges Execution for Man in Child’s Slaying, Molestation

A Palmdale man should be sentenced to death for sexually molesting and killing his 17-month-old godchild, a San Fernando Superior Court jury said Monday.

After deliberating for three days, jurors voted to recommend that Ricky Lee Earp, 29, should be executed for raping, sodomizing and murdering the child, Amanda Nicole Dorshier, in August, 1988. The same jury convicted Earp of the crimes two weeks ago. Jurors could have recommended the lesser penalty of life imprisonment without possible parole.

“We wanted to be fair, and no one took this lightly,” said jury foreman Chris Rockwell, an accounting manager for an aviation company. “It wasn’t easy.”

Rockwell said “deliberations were very intense” as jurors sifted through several “smoke screens” raised during the eight-week trial, including the defense’s claim that another man was responsible for the child’s killing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosalie Morton, who stood in for prosecutor Robert Foltz at court Monday, said Foltz would have been pleased with the sentence. “Mr. Foltz has said that clearly if ever there was a case that warranted the death penalty, this was the case,” Morton said. “The defendant for years will be going through appeals and enjoying the niceties of life . . . and the victim will not.”

Adrienne Dell, one of Earp’s two attorneys, filed motions for a new trial based on several issues, including a claim that there were improper court rulings. Judge Ronald Coen will rule on her motions on Jan. 17.

“As they say, it’s not over until the fat lady sings,” Dell said.

The toddler died of injuries received Aug. 25, 1988. Earp and girlfriend Virginia MacNair were baby-sitting the child at their Palmdale home. When MacNair left for work, Earp was left alone with the child. Later that day, Earp called MacNair to say the child was not breathing. She told him to call paramedics and to meet her at the hospital.

Earp instead fled the scene, testifying later that he was afraid of being arrested for skipping parole in connection with a 1985 burglary conviction. While she was at the hospital, doctors discovered that Amanda had been sexually molested. She died two days later from head injuries. Earp turned himself in to authorities in Sacramento a day after the death.

At the trial, Earp blamed the death on a friend he claimed came to visit him at the house. Earp said the friend, Dennis Morgan, was alone with the child for a time.

The prosecutor argued that there was no other man, and that Earp fled the scene to avoid being arrested for sexually molesting and killing the child. Morgan testified that he had never been to the house.

The trial was punctuated by frequent testy exchanges between defense attorneys and the prosecutor. Rockwell said the exchanges played no part in the jury’s deliberations.

He also said Coen’s frequent joking with jurors before court proceedings started helped relieve tension generated by the gravity of the case. At one point during the trial, the grandmother of the victim complained that she thought Coen’s behavior was inappropriate.

A sentencing date has not been set.