Man Convicted in 1986 Los Alamitos Murder

A former Long Beach man already serving a life sentence for a murder in Hawaii now faces a possible death sentence in Orange County after a jury found him guilty Tuesday of raping and strangling a Los Alamitos woman.

Jurors deliberated about 10 hours before finding Robert Mark Edwards guilty of first-degree murder in the 1986 slaying of Marjorie E. Deeble, a 55-year-old real estate agent whose daughter had dated the defendant.

The verdict included findings that Deeble’s murder involved torture and occurred during a burglary--charges that could lead to a death sentence. The same jury will return Nov. 4 to decide if the 35-year-old Edwards, convicted of killing a Maui woman in 1993 in a similar manner, should be executed.

Edwards, facing the jury as he has throughout the monthlong trial, nodded his head and looked briefly toward his sobbing mother as the verdict was announced.

One of Edwards’ attorneys, Deputy Public Defender Tim Severin, said he will be arguing that his client does not deserve the death penalty and expects to call as many as 30 character witnesses on his behalf during the penalty phase.

“He’s not a sociopath. He has things going for him in his life,” Severin said outside court. “He’s not the type of person who needs to be executed. He is a good father to his son. He wants to live for his son, who is the light of his life.”

Severin said he will detail Edwards’ long history of drug and alcohol abuse. During the trial, Edwards testified that on the night of Deeble’s murder he had used cocaine and heroin and drank a large amount of alcohol.

“The last thing he knows is that he used heavy drugs and alcohol and stayed home,” Severin said. “That was the last thing he remembers.”

Deeble’s sister, Lorraine Johnston, said she was pleased with the verdict, adding that the 10 years since her sister’s death have been very painful for the family because there has been no sense of closure.

“It’s been very hard,” Johnston said Tuesday from her home in Northern California. “I’m extremely relieved that it is over.”

Johnston, who attended the latter stages of the trial, said she may return to court during the penalty phase.

“The last thing I can do for her is to see this through,” she said.

Edwards, who dated Deeble’s daughter in the months before the May 15, 1986, slaying, was investigated but not charged in the Los Alamitos crime until after the January 1993 slaying on Maui.

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Deputy Dist. Atty. David L. Brent contended the case was a “tale of two crime scenes,” telling jurors they need only study the similarities between the Hawaii and Los Alamitos crimes to conclude both were the work of Edwards.

Both Deeble and 67-year-old Muriel E. Delbecq were beaten and mutilated before they were strangled, and both had been sexually assaulted with cans of hairstyling mousse, which the prosecution said represented the signature work of a single murderer.

Bloody handprints and footprints and other evidence helped Hawaii prosecutors convict Edwards, who lived near the victim. He was sentenced in 1994 to five consecutive life terms.

Defense attorneys contended the murder scenes were “radically different,” including the manner in which the women were strangled, and said there was no physical evidence, such as fingerprints, linking Edwards to the Los Alamitos crime. Deeble was strangled with a belt rigged to a dresser, while Delbecq was strangled by hand.

Prosecutors have said Edwards could be eligible for parole some day in Hawaii, but a conviction in Orange County would mean he would be sentenced to at least life in prison without parole, the only option if jurors rule against a death sentence.