Post by LadyBlue on Jan 12, 2013 13:45:07 GMT -5
Man who killed girlfriend, lived with body found sane
A 37-year-old man convicted of killing his girlfriend and living with her decomposing body for months has been found sane by a jury.
Devon Omar Epps had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder, rape and torture of 35-year-old Veronica Jones.
The defense argued that Epps, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was not able to understand the quality of his actions during the crime and that he suffered from delusions that made him believe Jones was still alive and that a person named "Kirby" had set him up.
Epps could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jones, a mother of nine who had lost custody of her children, had been living with Epps for a few months when she was reported missing by her relatives.
Jones also had a history of mental illness.
Stockton police were dispatched to the building Dec. 5, 2011, when Jones' badly decomposing body was discovered on the bathroom floor of Epps' studio. Epps was being evicted.
Medical examiner reports say Jones died from multiple stab wounds, impalement and blunt-force trauma. The level of decomposition indicated Jones' died during the time she disappeared, sometime around July.
www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130112/A_NEWS/301120322
A 37-year-old man convicted of killing his girlfriend and living with her decomposing body for months has been found sane by a jury.
Devon Omar Epps had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder, rape and torture of 35-year-old Veronica Jones.
The defense argued that Epps, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was not able to understand the quality of his actions during the crime and that he suffered from delusions that made him believe Jones was still alive and that a person named "Kirby" had set him up.
Epps could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jones, a mother of nine who had lost custody of her children, had been living with Epps for a few months when she was reported missing by her relatives.
Jones also had a history of mental illness.
Stockton police were dispatched to the building Dec. 5, 2011, when Jones' badly decomposing body was discovered on the bathroom floor of Epps' studio. Epps was being evicted.
Medical examiner reports say Jones died from multiple stab wounds, impalement and blunt-force trauma. The level of decomposition indicated Jones' died during the time she disappeared, sometime around July.
www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130112/A_NEWS/301120322
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