Divided Hilbun Jury Remains on the Case

Jurors deliberated an eighth day Wednesday without deciding whether former postal worker Mark Richard Hilbun was insane during a bloody two-day rampage in 1993, when he killed his mother and a colleague and wounded five others.

Jurors said they were deadlocked on the sanity issue Tuesday afternoon, but Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey on Wednesday urged the six men and six women to keep deliberating. They return this morning for further deliberations.

Hilbun, 42, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, contending he was suffering from a major mental illness during the rampage at a Dana Point post office and other locations throughout Orange County that began on May 6, 1993. He said he was driven by the belief the world was coming to an end, and by voices telling him to take a female co-worker, with whom he had become obsessed, to South America by sea kayak to re-create the Earth.

The prosecutor argued that Hilbun exaggerated his mental problems and took evasive action, such as changing his license plate numbers, which proved he knew what he was doing.

The same jury found Hilbun guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and felony charges of robbery, attempted robbery, attempted kidnapping and cruelty to animals. The verdict included special circumstances that could bring the death sentence if he is found sane.

After stabbing his mother and her dog to death in Corona del Mar, Hilbun opened fire on co-workers at a Dana Point post office, killing one man and injuring another. He later shot and injured several strangers in Dana Point, Newport Beach and Fountain Valley before being captured at a Huntington Beach sports bar during a massive manhunt.