Defendant in Murder Case Screams for Death

A Palmdale man charged with killing his estranged wife screamed Friday for a Los Angeles jury to give him the death penalty and threatened to commit suicide.

After repeated outbursts, defendant Richard James Poynton was removed from Superior Court and his trial proceedings were suspended until Monday.

Earlier, Poynton had delayed closing arguments in the case by refusing to leave his cell. Judge Tricia Ann Bigelow ordered him extracted.

Nearly three hours later, Poynton entered the courtroom in handcuffs and jail attire.

Bigelow warned Poynton against shouting in court. She also said she would hold proceedings without him if he failed to get to court on time.

“Why don’t you guys finish this without me,” Poynton yelled at Bigelow during one of his outbursts.

Bigelow responded: “I will not have you play manipulative games with me.”

Poynton quieted down long enough for the jury to enter the courtroom.

He then shouted for them to give him the death penalty. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to commit suicide anyway. I want the death penalty,” he said.

Bigelow had bailiffs remove Poynton from the courtroom.

Poynton is on trial in the stabbing death of his estranged wife in January 1999.

Witnesses said Marie Poynton had been forced off the road while driving in the Angeles National Forest and then stabbed.

The next day, Richard Poynton, who was 48 at the time, turned himself in to police in Laughlin, Nev.

Friday’s outbursts were Poynton’s first in front of the jury, his lawyer, Franklin Peters said, adding that his client has a long history of mental illness.

“Our defense,” Peters said, “is, basically, that he was legally unconscious at the time of the offense due to mental illness.”