SOUTHLAND : Man Who Killed Child Convicted
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SANTA ANA — A man was convicted today of first-degree murder for plunging a kitchen knife more than 40 times into a 3-year-old girl he claimed he believed was the devil.
Michael Robert Pacewitz, 21, was found guilty of killing Marcelline Onick while caring for her and her 9-month-old brother in their Fullerton apartment while the children’s mother was away.
Pacewitz, an unemployed painter, was also convicted by a Superior Court jury of one count each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon for attacks on his mother and her boyfriend.
The sanity phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Thursday. If found to be sane at the time of the crime, Pacewitz will be sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for the murder.
If the jury believes that Pacewitz was legally insane when he killed the child, he will be confined to a state mental hospital.
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