KIDNAPER: Summer Release Possible : Kidnaper Given 7 Years, May Be Out by Summer

Convicted child kidnaper Robert G. Edwards was sentenced to seven years in state prison Friday for the 1981 abduction of Maria Martin in Coronado, but the prosecution said that, with credit for time already served and good behavior, he could be freed by summer.

Edwards was sentenced after a retrial in November, when he was convicted on a simple kidnaping charge. In 1982, Edwards had been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of kidnap for ransom. However, that conviction was overturned in 1983 when an appeal court ruled that the judge at the first trial erred in his instructions to the jury.

Seven years was the maximum term that Edwards could receive for a simple kidnaping conviction. With the time served and good behavior, Edwards will probably be paroled sometime this summer, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bernard Revak.

Maria, now 7, was 4 years old when Edwards abducted her while the family was vacationing in Coronado from Provo, Utah. Edwards kept the child for nine days and police said he attempted to collect $5,000 in exchange for her. Elizabeth Semel, Edwards’ attorney, had argued that a man named Juan had actually committed the kidnaping and then gave the girl to Edwards, who was in a drunken stupor at the time.

Friday’s hearing included an appeal by Marjan Martin, the child’s mother, in which she asked for the maximum sentence, and a revelation that Edwards was imprisoned in Nebraska 30 years ago for kidnaping two sisters, 7 and 8 years old, and raping the older girl.

Revak told reporters that, after assaulting the older child, Edwards took a pistol and shot off the head of a doll belonging to the 7-year-old. According to Revak, Edwards threatened to do the same thing to the girls if they talked. Revak said that Edwards served seven years in a Nebraska state prison before he was paroled.

The prosecution was prohibited by law from revealing the Nebraska conviction to the jury during the trial.

An angry Semel objected when Revak referred to the Nebraska case while asking Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund to impose the maximum sentence. Semel called Edwards’ 1955 arrest and conviction “a lynching.” She said that he was charged, convicted and sentenced to prison within 48 hours.

In a statement read to the court, Mrs. Martin charged that Edwards “acted out of a perverse propulsion to kidnap and abuse a little girl” when he abducted Maria. Mrs. Martin said that Edwards kept the child locked in a box during the day and forced her to sleep with him in the nude.

“Was justice served?” said Mrs. Martin. “The person who knows more about this crime, the victim, was not allowed to testify in court.”

Revak had attempted to question the girl at a pretrial hearing designed to test Maria’s reaction to questioning from both sides. But Ehrenfreund ruled that she could not testify when the child began crying after Revak asked her where she lived.

Mrs. Martin said the kidnaping has left Maria with psychological scars. She said the girl went through a period when she would vomit upon seeing a bearded man. Edwards wears a beard.

She said the family had to borrow money to pay for 254 therapy sessions, costing $11,000, for Maria.

As part of her therapy, the child was recently made to return with her family to the motel room where her abduction took place, and to the apartment where Edwards hid the girl. The visits were designed to assure the girl that she is now out of danger.

Ehrenfreund told Mrs. Martin that “all of us sincerely sympathize with you over what occurred.” He called Edwards a danger to society.

Edwards “does pose a risk of recidivism. The conduct on his part indicates that he has some perverse feelings toward young victims, particularly girls. Mr. Edwards will shortly be released from prison. Because of this verdict I’m concerned about his conduct after his release. There are other small children out on the street,” said Ehrenfreund.

Speaking of her client, Semel said, “There is a human side to this individual. There is a side that expresses remorse and regret . . . . He has a strong desire to do something productive with his life when he is released.”

Edwards read a short statement in which he expressed his “great remorse” over Maria’s abduction.

“There is nothing I can say or do that will make things better for them (the Martins),” said Edwards. “I will pay the punishment, (but) I will not stop the suffering what these people have gone through.”