(CNS) Posted Friday February 11, 2011 – 9:13am
A 28-year-old woman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for her guilty plea Thursday in the love-triangle slaying of a high school wrestler in 2003.
Veronica Paz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a plea deal negotiated with Orange County prosecutors, said her attorney, Orange County Associate Public Defender Hector Chaparro. Orange County Judge James Stotler sentenced Paz.
An Orange County jury convicted Paz of first-degree murder Aug. 28, 2006, but jurors rejected a sentencing enhancement of lying in wait. She was sentenced on Dec. 15, 2006 to 25 years to life in prison.
However, Fourth District Appellate Court justices reversed the conviction because of an error Stotler made in jury instructions.
``She felt that she didn't want to put the families through another trial,' Chaparro said. ``She wanted to accept responsibility for what she had done... I believe she also did this because she truly felt remorseful for her involvement in this.'
Paz has insisted all along that she did not know her then-boyfriend and co-defendant Brandan Dante Perry intended to shoot and kill her other boyfriend, 17-year-old Diego Gonzalez, Chaparro said.
``She never wanted him to be killed,' Chaparro said. ``She didn't think he would be hurt, but things got out of control, so she felt very bad about what had happened.'
Perry, 27, of Garden Grove, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on March 28, 2006, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in September 2006.
Paz lured Gonzalez to a construction site in an unincorporated area near Orange with a promise to have sex with him. Perry, who Paz was dating at the time, agreed to wait for Gonzalez and Paz to arrive in the early morning hours of Nov. 10.
Paz watched as Perry dragged Gonzalez from the car and shot him twice in the head.
Perry testified in the 2006 trial that Paz knew he was going to kill Gonzalez and that he was angered when he saw her with other men.
The two tried to destroy the body by setting it on fire with diesel fuel.
They also had two friends help them develop an alibi.
The two friends -- Albert Thomas Medina and Kimberly Rita Gomez, both 28, pleaded guilty in 2004 to being accessories and were sentenced to three years probation.
Paz has credit for more than seven years served in custody, Chaparro said.
Messages left with Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy were not immediately returned today.
Copyright © 2011 City News Service
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