Jury Finds Man Sane During Sexual Assaults : Courts: Decision means Howard Davis Jr. could be sentenced to life in prison for attacks on four women and a 10-year-old girl.

A Superior Court jury Wednesday found Howard August Davis Jr., called the “Valley pickup truck rapist,” was sane when he sexually assaulted four women and one girl in May, 1994.

The finding meant that Davis, 30, of Woodland Hills, could be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. A jury last week found him guilty on 41 counts of sexual assault including rape, sodomy, forcible oral copulation, kidnaping and robbery.

Judge John S. Fisher scheduled sentencing for Dec. 7.

“My family is ruined,” Davis’ father, Howard Davis Sr., a retired Beverly Hills police officer, said outside the courtroom. “I doubt my family will ever recover from this.”

The verdict Wednesday concluded the Davis trial, which was conducted in two phases. Although his client already had been found guilty of the assault charges, defense lawyer Peter L. Knecht was trying to have Davis declared insane and ordered to a state mental hospital rather than prison.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Herscovitz successfully argued that while Davis may be mentally ill, there was no evidence of his being insane. The legal definition of insanity requires that a person be incapable of knowing or understanding the nature and quality of his act or incapable of distinguishing right from wrong at the time, Herscovitz said.

Jury foreman Samuel Craig said after the trial ended that “there was no indication of insanity. . . . The awareness was there.”

As bailiffs escorted Davis out of the courtroom, he turned and mouthed the words “I love you” to his father and sister, who sat crying.

The elder Davis, still visibly shaken outside the courtroom, said that the verdict was devastating. “We have no family without Howard,” he said.

Howard Davis Sr. said he remains convinced that his son was insane when he assaulted the victims, including a 10-year-old girl who was abducted on Memorial Day, 1994.

“Howard is my boy and he always will be. I love him with all my heart and soul,” said Davis, 59. “I pray that God will watch over him and keep him safe from harm. The boy is definitely mentally ill.”

Melinda Nelson, the defendant’s sister, said she had hoped that the younger Davis would be given a chance to receive treatment at a state hospital. “I really feel that Howard had something psychotic--he snapped,” said Nelson, 38. “I hate to see him put in prison with no chance for rehabilitation.”

Knecht and the Davis family never disputed the assault charges.

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The five victims were attacked during May, 1994, in the western San Fernando Valley. All five testified at the trial.

Knecht tried to persuade the jury that Davis is a kind, gentle man who suffers from a multiple personality disorder. His other personality, who calls himself Leo, is aggressive and dangerous, Knecht said.

Knecht told the jury that Davis suffered several head injuries over the years, including those suffered as a carjacking victim several months before the sexual attacks began. In addition, Davis was traumatized when his mother, Shirley, became severely ill a few weeks before the attacks started, Knecht said.

After the verdict Wednesday, Knecht said he was concerned for his client’s safety and planned to appeal.

Herscovitz said that although no single crime calls for a life sentence, the terms for the various counts add up to hundreds of years and he will ask the judge to ensure that Davis spends his life in prison.

“I’m sure the victims are going to be extremely pleased,” he said. “He obviously needs help.”