Suspect in O.C. Crime Spree Pleads Not Guilty : Courts: Mark Hilbun interrupts arraignment to avoid postponement. In Dana Point, 150 mourn victim.

Mark Richard Hilbun, the former postal worker accused of two murders and five shootings during a two-day crime spree in Orange County last week, interrupted his own lawyer’s presentation Monday and insisted that he immediately plead not guilty to 13 felony charges.

Public Defender David Biggs was seeking a postponement from Orange County Municipal Judge Blair T. Barnette when Hilbun interrupted and said: “No, I want to be arraigned today.”

Hilbun then whispered to his attorney through a wire partition: “The sooner, the better.”

Hilbun was charged with two counts of murder in the stabbing death of his 63-year-old mother Thursday and the shooting of a letter carrier at the Dana Point post office, where Hilbun worked for nearly four years until he was fired in December, in part for stalking a female employee.

About 150 friends and co-workers of the post office victim, Charles T. Barbagallo, gathered Monday in Dana Point for a funeral. The 42-year-old man was remembered as a friendly and helpful veteran mail carrier who talked about world peace and loved music by the Grateful Dead.

Barbagallo’s live-in companion, Mary Jane Galletly, placed some of the blame on the post office. “I appreciate everything the post office has done for us (since the shooting), but this should not have happened,” she said. “They could have prevented it.”

Hilbun, who has been found to be manic-depressive, allegedly walked into the Dana Point post office about 9:45 a.m. Thursday and shot Barbagallo in the face after the victim told Hilbun to put his gun down.

The complete list of charges Hilbun faced in Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel on Monday included two counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, two counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and one count of attempted kidnaping.

The attempted-murder charges stem from the shooting and wounding of five victims Thursday and Friday. He also fired his handgun at two others, but they were not hit.

Minutes after the post office shooting, Hilbun allegedly shot and wounded a Dana Point man in his garage. A few hours later, he allegedly shot a woman motorist in Newport Beach five times. She remained hospitalized Monday in serious but stable condition.

Early Saturday morning, shortly before he was arrested at a Huntington Beach bar, Hilbun allegedly shot and wounded two customers at an automated teller machine in Fountain Valley.

Police say he also pointed his weapon at a third customer at the ATM and pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire.

The kidnaping charge was filed because prosecutors believe Hilbun intended to capture the target of his earlier stalking, letter carrier Kim Springer, when he went to the post office Thursday. Springer, who returned to work Monday, was hiding under a desk during the shooting.

Witnesses said the gunman yelled “Kim! Kim!” after entering the post office through a loading dock door.

After the innocent pleas were entered, Judge Barnette ordered the defendant to be held without bail and to return to court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.

Biggs, the public defender, said outside the courtroom that Hilbun’s interruption was a surprise.

“Anything that speeds up the process of the prosecutor being able to try to convict my client of a crime for which he could end up on Death Row--that’s not a good thing,” Biggs said.

Police said Hilbun’s demand for a speedy arraignment also caught investigators off guard. Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Rivas said authorities had expected a continuance that would give them more time to prepare for the case.

“They’ve got a lot to do,” Rivas said. “It’s quite a rush, especially with a case of this magnitude. There’s a lot of questions we haven’t answered that we need to find out.”

Biggs also said he is still considering whether Hilbun should plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Biggs said he has not seen the paperwork necessary to decide whether the insanity defense is appropriate.

Hilbun could face the death penalty if he is convicted because prosecutors contend the case satisfies the criteria for capital punishment. They said there are two “special circumstances” involved in the case: multiple killings and a murder committed during an attempted kidnaping.

At the funeral for Barbagallo Monday, some mourners dressed in brightly colored, tie-dyed T-shirts and others wore the post office’s blue uniforms.

“I can’t believe this happened to someone who was dedicated to peace,” said Heidi Stalesen, a friend. “He was the kindest, sweetest man you could ever meet.”

She said Hilbun shot his two best friends at the Dana Point office--Barbagallo and Peter Gates, who was wounded when a bullet grazed his head. He also allegedly fired a bullet through the locked office door of Postmaster Donald Lowe.

“I find it hard to believe that (Hilbun) had to take out the people who were kindest to him,” Stalesen said. “He is a very troubled man.”

Friends said Barbagallo was Hilbun’s primary comforter and counselor, as the alleged gunman sorted through his mental problems. “That’s the way Charlie was with everyone,” said mail carrier Ron Whittaker, who witnessed the killing. “You always saw him walking along with a smile on his face.”

Some of the customers along Barbagallo’s mail route also attended the service, saying he would often do small things like leave cheery notes.

At Kaiser Permanente Hospital-Orange County in Anaheim Monday, the motorist Hilbun allegedly shot in a Newport Beach intersection was awaiting surgery. Patricia Talanco-Salot was listed in serious but stable condition.

Peter Stairs, a friend of Salot’s, said the 48-year-old Costa Mesa woman sat up and spoke Sunday night for the first time since the shooting, though she has remained conscious.

Salot was shot twice in the neck, twice in her arm and once in her hip--all on the left side, Stairs said. Her jaw is broken on both sides, her arm is broken, and doctors are not yet sure about the damage to her nervous system and her leg, he added. She will undergo several surgeries in the coming weeks.

Salot was tailing Hilbun on Thursday because he had used some metallic business signs stolen from her company to disguise his truck, police said. In a police report filed Monday, investigators said Salot was shot while sitting in her car. Even after she was injured, Salot continued to follow her assailant, but finally had to pull over, according to the report.

One other shooting victim remained hospitalized Monday. Elizabeth Shea, 28, one of two Fountain Valley residents Hilbun allegedly shot during an armed robbery at an automatic teller machine, remained at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach Monday.

Hospital spokeswoman Stacey Boussard said Shea refused interviews and asked that no information, including her condition, be released.

The two bar patrons who spotted Hilbun at a Huntington Beach sports bar early Saturday and called police contacted the Dana Point post office Monday to claim a $25,000 reward. Officials said, however, that the reward will not be issued unless Hilbun is convicted.

“We have to wait until Mr. Hilbun’s prosecution is completed,” said Pamela Prince, a spokeswoman for the Postal Inspection Service. “I expect that something will be paid on this, yes, I just can’t state the exact amount.”

Humberto Ochoa, 24, a computer operator who has been out of work since October, said Monday he hoped to use his half of the reward money to pay overdue bills.

Ochoa said he and Demy Mourani did not know about the reward until the day after they alerted police to Hilbun.

“When we did it, we were like ‘This is good, this guy won’t be killing anybody else or shooting anybody else,’ ” Ochoa said. “It’d be nice (to get the reward). But if something happens and we don’t, I still think we did a good job. The important thing has already been done--at least no one else is going to get hurt or blown away.”

Times staff writers Dave Lesher and Jodi Wilgoren contributed to this report.