Jury Finds Man Guilty of Killing Wife

A Palmdale man was convicted Tuesday of killing his estranged wife after a bizarre trial in which the defendant was ejected from the courtroom after telling jurors that he would commit suicide if he didn’t get the death penalty.

Richard James Poynton, 50, sat quietly as the verdict was read.

Jurors found Poynton guilty of stalking and first degree murder in the 1999 stabbing death of Marie Poynton in the Angeles National Forest. The jury will return on Monday to decide whether Poynton, who forced his wife’s vehicle off the road before attacking her, will get the death penalty.

Poynton’s lawyer, Franklin Peters Jr., said his client probably will take the stand to reiterate his request for death. He said he has advised his client against testifying but Poynton has insisted on doing so.

“His life is on the line. He has every right to testify if he wants,” Peters said.

Peters argued as part of his defense that his client has a long history of mental illness and that he was “legally unconscious” at the time of the killing because of his illness. But even proving his illness was difficult, Peters said, because his client refused to cooperate with doctors working on his behalf.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever had a client fight me every inch of the way,” Peters said. “It’s a difficult job to try to save someone’s life already but when they don’t want it saved it’s even more difficult.”

Marie Poynton, 44, was killed in January of 1999 after being forced off the road in a remote section of Angeles Forest Highway.

The attack was witnessed by several people who were traveling the rural two-lane highway between Glendale and Palmdale. Witnesses said they heard a man screaming obscenities at her before stabbing her several times with a knife.

The Poyntons were separated and in the process of divorcing.