Duval convicted--Antioch, CA dismemberment

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Published on June 22, 1999

Man who dumped parts of wife in Delta
convicted

BY RENITA SANDOSHAM
CONTRA COSTA TIMES STAFF WRITER

MARTINEZ -- A 41-year-old Antioch man who bludgeoned his wife and
scattered her body parts in the Delta was convicted Monday of
first-degree murder.

Scott Allen Duval appeared calm as the verdict was read in Contra
Costa Superior Court. He faces 26 years to life in prison in the death
of Margaret Duval, said prosecutor Nancy Georgiou.

"I am very pleased about the jury's decision. They took a complex
case and looked at the facts and came to a just verdict," Georgiou said.
"This was justice for Maggie."

A jury took a day and a half of deliberations to reach a guilty
verdict on the first-degree murder charge, which included an enhancement
for using a deadly weapon.

Duval's attorney, Bill Gagen, said he was disappointed.

"I'm saddened by it," Gagen said. "I don't think this was a
premeditated murder."

It is the second time in two years that Duval has been on trial for
killing Margaret Duval. Judge Richard Arnason declared a mistrial last
year after deciding the prosecutor had jeopardized Duval's right to a
fair trial by following an inappropriate line of questioning.

Georgiou said Duval killed his wife on Aug. 31, 1997, after an
argument at their home about their impending divorce. In an attempt to
hide the killing, he used a circular saw to cut up her body before
dumping the remains in the Delta.

Later that year police found an unidentified body part in the Delta
that DNA tests later confirmed belonged to Margaret Duval.

During the trial, Duval testified he struck his wife of eight years
with a clock embedded in an ornamental rock because she was attacking
him.

Although the clock struck Margaret Duval in the head, she continued
to attack him, he said. Fearing for his life, Duval testified, he
reached for the clock and hit her again.

Georgiou said Duval was a selfish and calculating man who planned the
murder of his wife because he worried that she would take half the
couple's assets after they divorced.

Gagen had argued that it was a "passion killing" without any planning
or plotting. Sentencing is scheduled for July 9.

Edition: CCT, Section: A, Page: 4

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