Rampage Suspect Pleads Innocent : Court: Fired postal worker surprises attorney by demanding quick arraignment. He is charged with two murders and seven attempted murders in two days of terror.

A fired postal worker pleaded not guilty Monday to two murder charges and seven counts of attempted murder in a post office rampage and attacks that terrorized Southern California for two days.

Mark Richard Hilbun, 39, surprising his attorney by demanding a fast start to the case, also pleaded innocent in Orange County Superior Court to one count of attempted kidnaping and three counts of attempted robbery.

Special circumstances would make Hilbun subject to the death penalty, but prosecutors have not decided whether to seek his execution, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard King.

Public Defender David Biggs was in the process of asking Judge Blair Barnette to delay the arraignment, when Hilbun interrupted.

“No, I want to be arraigned today,” Hilbun said from the court’s holding pen.

Biggs entered the innocent pleas, and Barnette set a preliminary hearing for May 18 and ordered Hilbun held without bail.

Biggs said later that Hilbun had taken him by 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.

Biggs said an insanity defense was possible, but the case needed study.

“I have not seen a police report, I have not seen the pathology reports, I have seen no forensics,” he said. “That’s going to take a little time to come to that conclusion.”

Authorities allege that Hilbun fatally stabbed his mother, Frances Hilbun, 63, at her Corona del Mar home early Thursday, and shot to death letter carrier Charles Barbagallo, 41, later that day at the Dana Point post office.

Witnesses said the gunman yelled “Kim, Kim!” after barging into the post office through a loading dock door. A diagnosed manic depressive, Hilbun had been fired for stalking colleague Kim Springer, who had obtained a court order to keep him away.

Hilbun was charged with attempting to kidnap Springer, and attempting to murder postal clerk Peter Gates, 44, who was wounded, and Dana Point postmaster Donald Lowe, who was not hurt.

Barbagallo’s family and friends mourned him Monday at a brief memorial service at a San Clemente mortuary. His body was to be cremated.

The other charges of attempted murder and attempted robbery involved a wave of crimes that frightened residents along a 20-mile stretch of Orange County coastline after the post office attack.

Hilbun was accused of attempting to murder and rob John Kersey, who was shot in the arm at his Dana Point home, and attempting to murder motorist Patricia Salot, 48, in Newport Beach. Both attacks were on Thursday.

He was also charged with trying to murder and rob Michael Robert Heath, 24, at a Wells Fargo Bank automated teller machine at 11:50 p.m. Friday. Fountain Valley Police Detective Jim Perry said a gunman matching Hilbun’s description demanded money. The victim had none and the robber pulled the trigger but the gun did not fire.

Prosecutors also charged Hilbun with attempting to murder Elizabeth Shea, 28, and Jim Brown, 44, in a robbery about 20 minutes later at another Fountain Valley bank teller machine. Both were shot and wounded.

The shooting of Shea and Brown occurred shortly before Hilbun was arrested in a Huntington Beach bar where a patron recognized him early Saturday.