YNOT – Former gay porn star Ryan Idol likely will do prison time after his conviction Tuesday on charges he tried to kill a former girlfriend two years ago.
The one-time Playgirl centerfold, whose real name is Marc Anthony Donais, faces a maximum of 15 years when Sacramento, Calif., Superior Court Judge Troy L. Nunley passes sentence on the attempted murder conviction. Nunley is expected to render his decision Dec. 9.
The charges stemmed from a Sept. 5, 2009, incident during which Donais attacked a former girlfriend with a porcelain toilet tank lid. The victim, 41, said Donais, 45, beat her over the head because he was upset that she broke up with him. He claimed self-defense, saying she attacked him with a knife after he accused her of cheating on him.
The district attorney framed the case as out-of-control ego meets unreasoning jealousy.
“I think the jury was able to recognize that his narcissism and ego basically led him to where he was,” Deputy District Attorney Kevin Jones told the Sacramento Bee after the verdict.
During the trial, Jones characterized Donais as a serial substance abuser and a stalker with a violent temper who was frustrated by a mainstream theater career that never took off. A self-described bisexual, Donais was insanely jealous about the former girlfriend even though he was convinced she wouldn’t have sex with anyone else because sex with him “was so great,” the DA said.
Donais told the jury he had consumed one drink the night of the incident before driving to his girlfriend’s apartment to check on her. He said he feared she was being influenced by drug-dealing friends. The couple had parted ways a few days earlier after she found him in bed with a financial benefactor.
The girlfriend told a vastly different story, beginning with a romantic tryst in Hawaii while she was on vacation, progressing through their breakup in 1992 when she discovered Donais’ career in gay porn and moving on to a reconciliation in mid-2008 when she encountered him while he was performing in a play on Broadway. The couple returned to the West Coast and moved in together, only to have the woman move out again in September 2009 when she discovered Donais having sex with the male owner of the condo in which they lived.
On the night of the assault, the victim opened her door to Donais, only to have him tell her, “I came over here to kill you.”
“He just grabbed me like I was nothing, and he picked me up and he threw me into the bathroom,” the woman told the court during a preliminary hearing. “He came in and he started beating me with his fists. …When he took the lid off the toilet … I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not going to live.’ And I looked down because I didn’t want him to smash it on my face, and he smashed it on my head.”
Although she briefly lost consciousness during the attack, she said she was able to recover enough to fight back and escape. Telephone records introduced as evidence showed Donais had called her 17 times during the four hours before the incident.
Donais was arrested later that night when he sought emergency room treatment for injuries he sustained from broken porcelain.
As Idol, Donais appeared in eight gay adult movies between 1990 and 1996. His last adult industry appearance was at Cocktails with the Stars, a monthly gathering in Los Angeles, in May 2011.
In addition to attempted murder, Donais was convicted of battery, assault with a deadly weapon and corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant. All are felonies. He was remanded to custody until sentencing.
Image: Ryan Idol at the height of his gay porn career (left) and in 2007.
