Jury Votes Death in Sex-Murder : Courts: Timothy DePriest, who killed a young Fountain Valley mother, already faces a life sentence in his home state.

An Orange County jury recommended the death penalty Thursday for a Missouri drifter with a history of sexual assaults and violence who savagely beat and then murdered a young Fountain Valley mother while stealing her car.

Timothy DePriest, 33, already faces a life sentence in his home state for shooting a police officer and sexually assaulting a woman. He showed no emotion Thursday, bowing his head as the jury of seven women and five men concluded that he should die for his crimes.

Described by a prosecutor as a “predator and bottom feeder” who earned the death penalty with his savagery, DePriest was convicted earlier this month of robbery, attempted rape and murder in the December, 1989, slaying of Hong Thi Nguyen, 26, who worked as a bridal shop seamstress in Garden Grove.

Nguyen was on her way home to breast-feed her infant daughter when DePriest targeted her at random, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans said.

DePriest beat Nguyen in the face and head before dumping her nude body alongside a trash bin behind a Garden Grove pharmacy.

After shooting Nguyen once in the head, DePriest took the woman’s car--which still contained her baby’s car seat--and drove to Missouri, paying for the cross-country trip with checks and credit cards he found in Nguyen’s purse.

Jurors, who began deliberating late Tuesday, said their decision was a difficult one. They said they felt sympathy for DePriest--who was physically abused as a child and had drug problems--but his crimes convinced them death was the appropriate punishment. “It was pretty tough,” said Frank Cota of Garden Grove. But in the end, he said, “it was the escalation of his exploits” that swayed the jury’s decision.

“It was hard to see remorse, that was the crux of it,” Cota said. “The young lad had a hard life, but we’ve all had tough times.”

Jury foreman Alan D. Baker said DePriest’s criminal history was a key factor in their decision.

“We did feel those things were heinous and led us to the decision we made,” he said. “The crimes were just so egregious.”

During closing arguments, defense attorneys pleaded with jurors to spare DePriest’s life. They told jurors that he was abandoned as a child by his mother, an alcoholic who cared little for her son’s welfare, and even used drugs with him.

DePriest’s fate now lies in the hands of Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey, who must decide whether the jury’s recommendation is appropriate. He scheduled sentencing for May 27.

Deputy Public Defender William G. Kelley said he wants the judge to set aside the jury’s decision and said he believes there are several issues that can be pursued on appeal.

“He’s hurting, he’s down,” Kelley said of his client.

Kelley and Deputy Public Defender Lewis W. Clapp had argued to jurors from the start that DePriest was not guilty of the charges against him, and instead blamed the murder on another man.

DePriest’s wife, who met and married him after his incarceration, wept when the jury’s verdict was announced, and declined to speak to reporters.

DePriest has a long criminal history. At the time of Nguyen’s murder, he was on parole for a rape conviction in California. He also had committed an earlier rape, Evans said. While in Missouri after Nguyen’s murder, he attacked a woman and then injured a police officer who tried to capture him. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 57 years for those crimes.

Defense attorneys citing the cost and court time had criticized prosecutors for seeking the death penalty against a man who already faced life in prison. But Evans said there is always the possibility DePriest could be paroled.

Outside of court, Evans said the jury’s decision confirmed his feelings that DePriest deserved the death penalty.

“We felt from Day 1 the jury would see the case this way,” said Evans.

Staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this report.