Man Convicted in ’88 Cyanide Poisoning of Wife

A jury Monday convicted Dana Point computer consultant Richard K. Overton in the 1988 cyanide poisoning of his wife, bringing to a finale one of Orange County’s oddest and longest-running murder cases.

Overton, 66, sat impassively, as he did throughout the six-week retrial, shaking his head only slightly after the verdict was read.

Jurors deliberated only six hours before deciding that Overton poisoned Janet L. Overton, 46, an elected trustee of the Capistrano Unified School District who collapsed in the family’s driveway on her way to a whale-watching outing Jan. 24, 1988.

Janet Overton was cremated, and investigators were unable to determine the cause of her death for months, until Dorothy Boyer, an ex-wife of Richard Overton, called authorities claiming she had been poisoned years earlier.

The bizarre case centered on diary entries by Richard Overton that revealed the couple’s mutual hatred and his bitterness over his wife’s sexual affairs. It ended in a mistrial in 1992 when the defendant’s former defense attorney suffered severe depression and could not continue.

Because the murder conviction carries a special circumstance of poisoning, Overton could receive a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole when he is sentenced Sept. 1 by Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald.

“It was kind of a long one for us,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans, who said he was pleased and relieved by the verdict. “It’s a weird one.”

Jurors said they were convinced of Overton’s guilt by the journal entries, scientific evidence and testimony that Overton had added drain cleaner and prescription drugs to the drinks consumed by ex-wife Boyer, who testified at both trials. Prosecutors said that years before the slaying, Richard Overton was slowly poisoning Janet Overton with selenium and that she and Boyer suffered nearly identical symptoms.