Jury Convicts Ex-Marine of Torturing Girlfriend; Beating Recorded on Voicemail

A jury has found a Murrieta man who once worked as a Marine gunnery sergeant guilty of all charges in a torture and domestic violence case involving his former live-in girlfriend.

Jurors at Southwest Justice Center near Murrieta began deliberating the fate of Anthony Eugene Rollins, 34, on Tuesday, according to John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

The verdict, which found Rollins guilty of torture, two counts of domestic violence, and dissuading a witness, was announced just before noon Thursday, Hall said.

Jurors also found true a sentence-enhancing allegation of inflicting great bodily injury on the woman who only discovered what happened to her after she listened to a voicemail of the attack that was unintentionally recorded.

The woman, whose identity was protected in court documents, discovered that key piece of evidence on her cellphone a few weeks after the Dec. 1, 2012 incident.

She had been hospitalized with head trauma that included a skull fracture and bleeding to her brain after waking up the next morning and not feeling good, according to Murrieta police statements.

She had no memory of how she received her injuries until she discovered a missed call and listened to the voicemail.

She came forward to Murrieta police with the one minute, 26 second voicemail recorded the night she was allegedly beaten, according to a copy of a search warrant.  

"In the voicemail, the victim heard herself crying and screaming in pain as well as the defendant in this case telling her she was never going to leave and also sounds like something being repeatedly hit," Hall said.

The couple had been in a relationship for four years, according to police statements.

The former Marine is scheduled to appear before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Michael Rushton on Feb. 21 for sentencing. Rollins faces a potential life sentence because of the torture count, according to Hall.

The trial—prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Tim Cross of the DA’s Domestic Violence Unit—began Dec. 16.