| For Immediate Release
June 28, 2007 |
Contact: Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 |
HUSBAND WHO FOR FOUR DAYS BRUTALLY
TORTURED, RAPED, SODOMIZED, KIDNAPPED AND ALMOST KILLED WIFE TO BE SENTENCED
*Later led police on televised high speed chase
SANTA ANA – A man who for four days brutalized his wife by torture, rape, sodomy and attempted murder will be sentenced tomorrow at the Central Justice Center, Department C-44, Santa Ana, at 9:00 a.m. Maryland faces up to 139 years to life.
On March 6, 2007, Prince Edward Maryland, 42, Foothill Ranch, was convicted of attempted murder, torture, forcible spousal rape, forcible sexual penetration by foreign object, forcible sodomy, forcible oral copulation, two counts of kidnapping, false imprisonment by violence, aggravated mayhem, two counts of criminal threats, five counts of aggravated assault, and evading while driving recklessly. The jury also found true that the defendant inflicted great bodily injury and personally used a deadly weapon, scissors. The defendant admitted that he was a habitual criminal and had served time in state prison on four prior occasions.
On April 14, 2005, Maryland, then 39, and his wife Jane Doe, then 49, had been married for one year. Over a 4-day period, defendant brutally and forcibly beat, raped, sodomized, digitally penetrated and forced Jane Doe to orally copulate him. Maryland also threatened to kill Jane Doe.
Victim was strangled three times to a point of unconsciousness. She fell asleep and woke up after the defendant left. Jane Doe called the police. At the hospital, doctors placed a tube in Jane Doe’s throat and treated her fractures, burns all over her body, and numerous large bruises. There were clumps of hair found on the kitchen floor and blood stains all over the house. The beatings were so brutal that the victim stated the rape was a break from the beating.
The defendant was located in Kern County by the Kern County Sheriffs. Maryland failed to yield and took law enforcement on a short high speed pursuit reaching speeds of 120 mph while weaving in and out of traffic on Interstate 99. Defendant eventually spun out of control and was stopped. He told police he was on his way to Seattle and then Canada.
Two prior victims testified in the trial which proved the defendant’s propensity to commit such violent crimes. One prior victim was an ex-wife and another was an ex-cohabitant.