FORMER LA SHERIFF’S DEPUTY FOUND GUILTY AND SANE FOR VIOLENTLY TORTURING AND SEXUALLY ASSAULTING WIFE AND MALE VICTIM

FORMER LA SHERIFF’S DEPUTY FOUND GUILTY AND SANE FOR VIOLENTLY TORTURING AND SEXUALLY ASSAULTING WIFE AND MALE VICTIM

SANTA ANA – A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy was found by a jury yesterday to have been legally sane when he tortured and forcibly sexually assaulted his wife and another man. Robert Avery McClain, 38, Irvine, was found guilty by the same jury May 10, 2012, of one felony count each of aggravated mayhem, torture, forcible oral copulation, attempted sexual penetration by foreign object by force, spousal rape by force, sodomy by future threat, false imprisonment, and domestic battery with corporal injury. The jury found true the sentencing enhancements and allegations for the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a sexual assault, personally inflicting great bodily injury to more than one victim, personal use of a deadly weapon, personal use of a firearm, use of a firearm during a sexual offense, causing great bodily injury to a sexual assault victim, and causing great bodily injury in the course of domestic violence. McClain faces a maximum of multiple life sentences at his sentencing July 13, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. in Department C-37, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

As McClain entered pleas of “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity,” the trial was held in two phases. The first phase was the guilt phase, during which jurors heard evidence about the crime and the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the crime. In the second phase, the sanity phase, in which the same jury considered evidence to determine if the defendant was legally sane at the time of the crime, McClain was found to be sane.  When a defendant pleads “not guilty by reason of insanity,” the burden is on the defense to prove that the defendant was more likely than not legally insane when he committed the crime. To be considered legally insane, the defense must prove that the defendant had a mental disease or defect when he committed the crime and that this defect kept the defendant from understanding the nature of his act or from understanding that his act was morally or legally wrong.

At the time of the crime, McClain was a 10-month deputy on probation with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The defendant was married to 31-year-old Jane Doe and the couple had four children. McClain became angry because he was suspicious that his wife was having an affair with 23-year-old John Doe, a resident of the Irvine apartment complex where Jane Doe worked in the leasing office.

On Sept. 28, 2008, McClain asked his wife to take him to meet John Doe under the pretense of being introduced to the man who might ultimately spend time around the couple’s children. The defendant showed up with Jane Doe at John Doe’s apartment at approximately 9:00 p.m. and led the victims to the back kitchenette area of the leasing office.

The defendant argued with Jane Doe and John Doe and then violently tortured both victims.