Man Gets Life For Cutting Out Girlfriend's Tongue
SANTA ANA
A La Palma man who cut out his girlfriend's tongue, which caused her to bleed to death, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.
Before 50-year-old Frank Mallory was sentenced, his mother recounted an 18-month dysfunctional relationship between her son and the victim that she said led an otherwise "kind and generous and loving and caring" man to snap.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue said 41-year-old Patricia Dunthorne was the victim of "an extraordinarily brutal murder, and there was no justification for it -- none."
Donahue noted there "was a tremendous amount of blood at the scene," showing that Dunthorne's "heart was pumping while she was alive."
Dunthorne's sister, Victoria Siegfried, said she was particularly saddened that Dunthorne's son, Cameron, lost his mother when he was 12 years old.
"It is my firm wish that Frank Mallory will spend the rest of his life thinking of what he has done," she said.
During his trial testimony, Mallory said he loved Dunthorne, who he met in an Alcoholics Anonymous program. But after moving in with him, she constantly berated and belittled him, demanding expensive gifts like a $5,000 diamond watch she had wanted, he said.
Mallory testified that he believed Dunthorne died from an overdose and did not acknowledge cutting out her tongue, but said he strangled her while believing she was already dead. He said she had accidentally overdosed in the past.
She had been dead for two or three weeks before her body was found on July 16, 2005, by Mallory's younger brother. Mallory told investigators that the presence of the body was news to him, a police captain said at the time.
SANTA ANA
A La Palma man who cut out his girlfriend's tongue, which caused her to bleed to death, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.
Before 50-year-old Frank Mallory was sentenced, his mother recounted an 18-month dysfunctional relationship between her son and the victim that she said led an otherwise "kind and generous and loving and caring" man to snap.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue said 41-year-old Patricia Dunthorne was the victim of "an extraordinarily brutal murder, and there was no justification for it -- none."
Donahue noted there "was a tremendous amount of blood at the scene," showing that Dunthorne's "heart was pumping while she was alive."
Dunthorne's sister, Victoria Siegfried, said she was particularly saddened that Dunthorne's son, Cameron, lost his mother when he was 12 years old.
"It is my firm wish that Frank Mallory will spend the rest of his life thinking of what he has done," she said.
During his trial testimony, Mallory said he loved Dunthorne, who he met in an Alcoholics Anonymous program. But after moving in with him, she constantly berated and belittled him, demanding expensive gifts like a $5,000 diamond watch she had wanted, he said.
Mallory testified that he believed Dunthorne died from an overdose and did not acknowledge cutting out her tongue, but said he strangled her while believing she was already dead. He said she had accidentally overdosed in the past.
She had been dead for two or three weeks before her body was found on July 16, 2005, by Mallory's younger brother. Mallory told investigators that the presence of the body was news to him, a police captain said at the time.
