‘Humane’ Killer Deserves to Live, Attorney Says

Robert Mark Edwards, convicted last month of raping and strangling a Los Alamitos woman, was portrayed by his attorney Monday as “a warm, humane and giving person” who does not deserve to be executed.

During opening statements in the murder trial’s penalty phase, Deputy Public Defender Tim Severin said Edwards has “a dark side which is only released when he is under the extreme domination of alcohol.”

Edwards could face death for the 1986 murder of 55-year-old Marjorie E. Deeble. The Orange County Superior Court jury found that the killing involved torture and occurred during a burglary, charges that could lead to a death sentence. Edwards already is serving five life terms for murdering a Maui woman in the same manner in 1993.

Edwards, 35, had testified that on the night of Deeble’s murder, he had used cocaine and heroin and drunk a large amount of alcohol. Severin said jurors should take into consideration Edwards’ drug and alcohol impairment as they consider his punishment. The attorney also spoke of Edwards’ devotion to his 11-year-old son.

“There is no need to execute Rob Edwards,” Severin said to the jury. “The only valid argument to execute him is vengeance.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. David L. Brent said jurors should consider the 1993 murder of 67-year-old Muriel Delbecq and a 1983 felony burglary conviction “as character evidence” when weighing whether Edwards should be put to death or be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

“It tells you about his character, and it’s not good,” Brent said.

Edwards had been investigated but had not been charged with Deeble’s murder until the 1993 slaying. Both women were beaten and mutilated before they were strangled, and both had been assaulted with cans of hairstyling mousse.

On Monday, a former girlfriend, Naomi Lindeman, reluctantly testified that a drunken Edwards once tried to rape her with a wine bottle in 1989 and had occasionally tried to choke her during sex.

Lindeman’s testimony elicited a string of objections from defense attorneys, who at one point asked Judge John J. Ryan to declare a mistrial. Ryan denied the motion.

But the morning’s most emotional moments came when Deeble’s daughter and sister took the stand.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in pain,” said Deeble’s older sister, Lorraine Johnston. “There’s a helpless feeling of not being able to do anything and of missing her terribly. I miss her visits, her letters, her get-togethers. We were a close family.”

The daughter, Katherine Deeble Valentine, 33, had dated Edwards in the months before the slaying.

“I’m afraid to be alone,” she testified. “I wake up in the middle of the night crying because I want my mother. I’m afraid. I’m looking over my shoulder all the time.”

Valentine spoke of a dream her mother had shortly before her death. In it, her mother was celebrating her 75th birthday, surrounded by children and grandchildren.

Since her death, all four of Deeble’s grandchildren have been born.

“Four grandchildren that she never saw,” Valentine said outside the courtroom.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Anna Cekola.