West Valley Serial Rapist Guilty on 41 Counts : Verdict: Second phase of trial will determine whether man was insane at time of 1994 attacks on five female victims.

A Superior Court jury Tuesday found a Woodland Hills man guilty of 41 counts of sexual assault against five female victims, sending the trial into a second phase to determine whether he was insane at the time.

Howard August Davis Jr., 30, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, sat quietly as Judge John S. Fisher spent more than 20 minutes slowly reading through each guilty verdict. The charges included rape, sodomy, forcible oral copulation, kidnaping and robbery.

They were charges the defense lawyer, Peter L. Knecht, and the defendant’s family did not dispute.

“It was obvious he was the person there,” Davis’ father, Howard Davis Sr., a retired Beverly Hills police officer, said outside the courtroom. “He’s insane. What father wants to say that about his son? But he is.”

The younger Davis was dubbed “the Valley pickup truck rapist” before his arrest in June, 1994, authorities said.

The five victims--including a 10-year-old girl who was abducted on Memorial Day, 1994--were attacked during May of that year in the western San Fernando Valley.

The trial, which began last Wednesday, included testimony from all five victims.

Shortly after the 12-member jury delivered its verdicts Tuesday, the defense and prosecution presented opening statements in the trial’s sanity phase.

Knecht told the jury that the defense will show that Davis suffers from a multiple personality disorder, that he is a kindhearted, gentle man, but has another personality, who calls himself Leo, who is far more aggressive and dangerous.

He said that Davis suffered several head injuries over the years, including a serious injury when he was the victim of a carjacking several months before the attacks began. In addition, Davis’ mother, Shirley, became severely ill in the weeks before the attacks began, adding more trauma to his life, Knecht said.

Following the buildup of disappointments, worries and injuries, “something snapped,” Knecht said, causing “Leo” to become a serial rapist. “He is not responsible for Leo’s acts.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Herscovitz, who is prosecuting the case, told the jury during a brief opening statement that while Davis undoubtedly is mentally ill, that does not necessarily make him legally insane.

Herscovitz said during a recess in the proceedings that he was confident the jury would reject the defense. “I don’t think the jury, based on the evidence they hear, is going to find he’s insane,” he said.

The elder Davis said his son belongs in a state mental hospital where he can receive treatment for his disorder, rather than a state prison.

“He’s doing terrible,” Davis said. “If they just ship him off to some prison somewhere, I don’t know what’s going to happen to my family.”