Ex-Mail Carrier Could Face Death Sentence, His Lawyer Says

SANTA ANA — A former letter carrier accused of killing his mother and a former co-worker during a two-day rampage last year faces a possible death sentence, his attorney said Thursday.

Orange County prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty for Mark Richard Hilbun, 40, despite defense concerns about Hilbun’s history of mental problems, including depression and manic-depressive behavior, said Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg.

Gragg said the defense will focus on Hilbun’s mental state.

Hilbun faces trial later this year on two counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, and one count each of robbery, attempted kidnaping, burglary and killing his mother’s dog, according to an indictment in January by the Orange County Grand Jury.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick King could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

Hilbun is accused of killing his mother, Frances, in her Corona del Mar home on March 6, 1993. He is charged with shooting two postal workers--one fatally--as he tried to kidnap Kim Springer, a postal worker with whom he had become infatuated and had been stalking, officials said.

Hilbun had been fired from the Dana Point Post Office in December, 1992, in part due to his behavior toward Springer, officials said.

The other person killed, Dana Point postal worker Charles T. Barbagallo, 42, was said to be Hilbun’s best friend.

Authorities said Hilbun then went on a rampage, attacking and wounding five other people in Dana Point, Newport Beach and Fountain Valley during a two-day period in which he managed to evade a countywide manhunt for him.

He was arrested drinking cocktails and watching television at a Huntington Beach sports bar.

Defense attorneys have been unsuccessful in their attempts to have Hilbun declared mentally incapable of standing trial. Since he has been in custody, Hilbun has lost weight and apparently tried to commit suicide in June by jumping from a second-story walkway at Orange County Central Men’s Jail.