Judge to Rule on Defense Move to Dismiss Poisoning Death Case

SANTA ANA —  Superior Court Judge David O. Carter is expected to rule today on a series of defense motions asking that murder charges be dropped against Richard K. Overton, a part-time college professor accused of the cyanide poisoning of his wife.

Janet L. Overton, 46, a prominent South County school board member, died in January, 1988, after collapsing at the couple’s Dana Point home as she was preparing for a family outing. Paramedics temporarily revived her, but she was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Overton’s attorney, Robert D. Chatterton of Orange, argued Monday that the Orange County Grand Jury that indicted his client last Oct. 1 received “inadmissible evidence” because a search warrant sheriff’s investigators used to enter his home was overly broad. He said the grand jury was misled because members were told that Overton allegedly had poisoned his first wife, Dorothy Overton Boyer, with cyanide when there was never any proof. He said that evidence was “highly prejudicial.”

Chatterton also maintained that grand jurors were misled when they were told that Overton’s third wife, Janet, was systematically poisoned.

The grand jury indicted Overton, 63, on a murder charge after taking testimony from 22 witnesses. The trial is scheduled to start April 27.

Overton, free on $250,000 bail, has been a mathematics and computer specialist and a college professor. His wife was a trustee of the Capistrano Unified School District.