Witnesses testify Yara Belen Perez allegedly abused daughter in sentencing phase of murder trial El Paso Times (Texas) October 15, 2012 Monday
Filed under:- Criminal Law
Jurors will begin deciding today whether Yara Belen Perez, the woman convicted in the 2007 beating death of her young daughter, deserves two life sentences in prison.
Perez, 30, was found guilty on Friday of capital murder and injury to a child in the death of Jacqueline Gonzalez, 3. The little girl's body was found in the trunk of Perez's car on Nov. 19, 2007. An autopsy found Jacqueline had at least 70 bruises on her body, and died from a ruptured small bowel and torn intestine.
Perez's boyfriend at the time, Francisco Castaceda, was convicted in 2010 of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Perez's capital murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence, but she faces an additional sentence of five to 99 years in prison on the injury to a child conviction.
On Monday, jurors heard testimony from two women who lived near Francisco Castaceda's mother about the time of Jacqueline's death.
Susie Gurrola, testified that on Halloween 2007, Jacqueline tripped and hit her head on a rock while dressed as Tinkerbell. Instead of Perez being worried about the girl's injury, Gurrola testified, Perez was more concerned about Jacqueline ripping the pantihose she was wearing as part of her costume.
Another neighbor, Graciela Padilla, testified that she once saw Perez kick Jacqueline on the back. When confronted about the abuse, Padilla testified, Perez allegedly said, "As long as I don't leave any marks on her when I hit her."
Another time, Padilla testified, she allegedly saw Perez hit Jacqueline with the girl's shoe after it had fallen off during a rain storm.
Jacqueline's paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Gonzalez, also took the stand Monday. She testified she often cared for Jacqueline and her older sister while Perez and Jacqueline's father, Marco Antonio Gonzalez, worked and went to school.
Gonzalez tearfully told jurors about Jacqueline's favorite things: the color red, Dora The Explorer, pancakes in the morning and playing in the sandbox at the park.
While on the stand, Gonzalez said she once saw Perez slap Jacqueline's older sister after the girl asked for warm milk.
"She told her not to be bothering her," Gonzalez testified.
During cross-examination by defense attorney Joe Spencer, Gonzalez admitted she told a police homicide detective she never saw bruises on either of the two girls, and also said she thought Perez was a good mother.
After prosecutors Penny Hamilton and Lisa Clausen rested their case in the punishment phase of Perez's trial, Spencer called only one witness to the stand: Perez's husband Arturo Ornelas.
Ornelas testified the couple married in December and have a 1-year-old daughter. The two met while Ornelas worked as a baker at a Northeast El Paso supermarket, and Perez worked for a food distribution company.
Ornelas called Perez, "My soul mate," and decided to stay with her even after she told him about the charges she was facing in Jacqueline's death.
"I decided to take the risk, and I decided we were going to be happy," Ornelas said, at times breaking down into tears during his testimony.
At one point, Ornelas mouthed "I love you" to Perez, who only sobbed and nodded her head at him.
Before testimony began on Monday morning, defense attorneys objected to 91 extraneous offenses that prosecution witnesses had planned to testify about during the punishment phase. Among the testimony was evidence about Perez's violent temper, including two July 2007 incidents where Perez allegedly threw a chair at her mother and broke the glass of her mother's china cabinet with her fist.
A day later, Perez allegedly slapped her 9-year-old cousin in the face, leaving a mark, and also slapped her 73-year-old grandmother.
Although prosecutors said those two cases are still pending, Perez's mother and grandmother both took the stand outside the jury's presence stating denying they were attacked and declined to press charges.
State District Judge Angie Barill agreed with defense objections about evidence of the alleged offenses, stating they were prejudicial and not relevant because neither involved Jacqueline.
Closing arguments are expected to begin at 8:30 a.m. today in the 346th District Court.
Adriana M. Chcvez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117. Follow her on Twitter @AChavezEPTimes.
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