LAKE COUNTY — A jury found former Clearlake resident James Wade Roberts guilty of first-degree murder Thursday afternoon after five hours of deliberation. The same jury will decide whether or not Roberts was sane at the time of the murder in the next phase of the trial, slated to begin Tuesday.
Roberts was found guilty of strangling and stabbing his former roommate Ruth Donaldson in an October 15, 2006 incident at the Mullen Avenue home they shared with four other people at the time. Roberts entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea in March 2007.
“The jury had a decision to make as to what degree homicide. They had the full range ? involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and first-degree murder. Either way, with the fact that my client admitted to having five serious felony convictions on his record, any of those homicide convictions would have roughly the same result, which is lifetime imprisonment,” defense attorney Stephen Carter said.
Under the three strikes law, Roberts faced 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
“Now we move on to sanity phase, in which the issue is, was Mr. Roberts sane at time of the commission. The primary issue there, in terms the effect (on Roberts) has to do with where the lifetime imprisonment is spent,” Carter said. He added that the jury”s decision will likely affect whether Roberts spends his sentence in a state prison or in a state mental hospital.
Carter would not comment on whether or not he will call Dr. Albert Kastl back to the stand, who testified in the guilt phase of the trial that Roberts suffered from a psychotic disorder.
“We will call further witnesses on issue of sanity, which should be wrapped up next week,” Carter said.
Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins said he plans to call Dr. Douglas Rosoff back to the stand in the sanity phase. Rosoff differed with Kastl”s diagnosis of Roberts in the guilt phase of the trial, but did not rule out the possibility of a psychotic disorder. Hopkins said Rosoff tried three times to interview Roberts, but Roberts refused. Hopkins said he will also call Dr. Donald Apostle to the stand, who has not previously given testimony in the case.
“We will tell the jury that the evidence they heard in first part of trial they can consider in this portion, and we”ll just ask couple questions of the ones (witnesses) who have already testified,” Hopkins said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
