Jan. 12--STOCKTON -- 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.
"It just feels like a tremendous victory," said Jones' brother, Isaac Zuniga. "No other women will be killed or harassed or raped by him ever again."
Zuniga became somewhat worried midway through deliberations when jurors requested the defense's expert witness, psychiatrist Robert Black, testify a second time.
"Because there was a bias to begin with right off the gate. because he was hired by the defense," Zuniga said.
Zuniga said he is relieved his family can finally move on and put the gruesome details that came out during trial behind them.
Jones' relatives went out to lunch to celebrate the verdict. "We said a prayer for my sister, and we just really connected," Zuniga said. "I think this experience has bonded our family closer."
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.
Epps was found guilty of first-degree murder and special circumstances of rape with a foreign object and murder by torture.
Jurors then heard two days of testimony in the sanity phase of the trial and took two days to come to a verdict.
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said there were multiple signs showing Epps was aware of the crime he was committing.
"The fact the defendant used a table pedestal, a knife and a mop handle and what he did with all these weapons shows it was done over a period of time," Testa said. "The prolonged nature of the murder indicates it wasn't done in an instant."
Testa said most likely the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will have Epps serve his sentence in a prison mental health facility.
Zuniga praised and thanked Testa for his work on the case.
"His attention to detail was just very critical," Zuniga said. "He's very smart and brilliant, and he knows what he's doing in the courtroom."
Epps is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11.
Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez-Moore at (209) 943-8564 or [email protected]. Visit her blog at recordnet.com/courtsblog.
Copyright 2013 - The Record, Stockton, Calif.
