Prosecutor Urges Death for ‘Sick’ Killer

Portraying Robert Mark Edwards as a sadistic killer who relished torturing his victims and watching them die, a prosecutor said Monday that Edwards should be sentenced to death for murdering a Los Alamitos woman in 1986.

Deputy District Atty. David L. Brent gave a detailed, gruesome account of the slaying during closing arguments of the trial’s penalty phase. The prosecutor contended that Edwards derived sexual pleasure from killing 55-year-old Marjorie E. Deeble, whom he hung with her own belt after raping and sexually mutilating her with a can of hairstyling mousse.

“That’s what makes this so sick,” Brent told the jury. “That is why this man should die.”

Defense attorney Tim Severin told jurors, who begin deliberating on Edwards’ fate today , that Brent’s portrait of his client as a sexual sadist was “pure bunk and pure nonsense.” He said the only reason to sentence Edwards to death would be vengeance.

The 35-year-old man faces either death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury convicted him last month of Deeble’s murder and found that the killing involved torture and occurred during a burglary.

Edwards is already serving five life terms for murdering 67-year-old Muriel Delbecqu in the same manner on Maui in 1993. Edwards had been investigated but had not been charged with Deeble’s murder until the second slaying.

Edwards had testified that on the night of Deeble’s murder, he used cocaine and heroin and drank a large amount of alcohol. He claims to have no memory of killing either woman.

But during a lengthy closing argument, Brent graphically described the torture each woman endured and contended that Edwards would not have been able to carry out such long and brutal crimes if he had indeed been suffering from an alcoholic blackout.

“He makes a mockery of our justice system by saying, ‘I don’t remember,’ ” Brent said.

Severin said life in prison is a strong enough punishment for his client, whom he said has expressed remorse for the crimes and would be a “model prisoner.”

The attorney said Edwards was abused by his father as a child and has had a long battle with drugs and alcohol. He said Edwards’ main reason for wanting to live is his “profound love and affection” for his 11-year-old son. The attorney also told jurors about good deeds and gestures made by Edwards over the years to family and friends, many of whom testified on his behalf.

“Shouldn’t the death penalty be reserved for someone with no redeeming qualities?” he asked. “If Rob Edwards dies of execution, a little of each of us will perish with him.”