Jury Rules Man Sane When He Killed Aunt : Courts: Panel decides defendant knew right from wrong as he stomped to death the 80-year-old in their San Fernando home.

Rejecting testimony by two defense psychiatrists that the defendant was insane, a Superior Court jury decided Tuesday that a former Marine knew he was doing something wrong when he stomped his 80-year-old aunt to death, telling her to “leave my world.”

“This guy was a sick puppy, but he knew what he was doing,” said jury foreman Bill Neuser, of Chatsworth.

Robert Paul Runnion, a heavily tattooed 38-year-old, ran his fingers through his long, gray beard as jurors returned their verdict, reached after less than three hours of deliberations.

“Two shrinks said he was insane; the jury said he was not,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Edwin Greene, adding that he felt the verdict represented “a backlash against mental defenses.”

Defense attorney Rose Fe Reglos said her client was resigned to the verdict, and was eager to leave the county jail behind and begin serving his term in a state prison. She added that Runnion still suffers from delusions and talks about the slaying as a necessary action to rid his life of evil.

“I do think he’s sick. He needs treatment,” Reglos said.

Last week, the jury found Runnion guilty of first-degree murder in the Oct. 21, 1993, stomping death of his aunt, Marietta Donnelly, in the San Fernando home they shared.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Candace J. Beason scheduled sentencing for Feb. 28. Runnion faces a mandatory 25 years to life in prison, because of the jury’s ruling that he was sane when he committed the crime.

An insanity verdict would have sent him to a state mental hospital until he was adjudged sane.

After announcing their verdict, jurors said they asked Beason to recommend that Runnion be sent to a state prison that offers psychiatric treatment, such as Vacaville.

During the case, the jury heard a tape recording of the chilling statement Runnion gave police just two hours after killing Donnelly, a frail, nearly blind former nurse who had taken care of Runnion for most of his life.

In the statement, Runnion told officers he knew he was killing his aunt, and would do it again. He admitted previous attempts on her life, saying he stared at her and played loud music, trying to provoke her into a heart attack.

“She wouldn’t go down,” Runnion said, so he knocked her to the floor and bounced on her chest with his knees until he heard her ribs crack and she died.

He told the psychiatrists he thought she was a witch who molested children and was sending him messages by leaving the newspaper open.