A Salinas man who shot his girlfriend's
estranged husband for kicking a dent in his
sport utility vehicle was convicted Friday of
second-degree murder.
Jurors deliberated less than two days
before convicting 26-year-old Francisco
Flores Aparicio.
He could be sentenced to a maximum
penalty of life in prison for the Feb. 11,
2007, death of Israel Morales.
Aparicio is scheduled to be sentenced Oct.
28.
Deputy District Attorney Manny Bustamante
told jurors last week that Morales became
enraged at his estranged wife and Aparicio
earlier the day of the shooting at an
apartment in the 44-500 block of Arabia
Street in Indio, where his wife and Aparicio
lived.
Morales tried to slash the tires on
Aparicio's GMC Denali, then kicked the
driver's side fender, Bustamante said.
Joanna Morales told Aparicio what
happened when he returned home, and
when Morales came to the apartment
building, Aparicio shot him with a shotgun,
the prosecutor said.
“Israel Morales is on the ground, shot in the
chest — his right lung is destroyed, his
heart's been hit,” Bustamante said in his
closing argument. “The defendant walks
up, and he shoots him in the face.”
Defense attorney Jose Rojo told jurors last
week it bothered Morales that his wife was
seeing Aparicio.
He said when Morales confronted Aparicio
about the Denali, Morales kept threatening
to kill Aparicio, leading Aparicio to shoot in
self-defense.
Rojo said in his closing argument Thursday
that when Morales arrived at the apartment
complex, he did not put his hands in the
air and say he came in peace.
The shootings were a split-second decision
for Aparicio, he said.
“Mr. Aparicio is angry, and he's frightened;
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there are mixed emotions,” Rojo said. “At
the same time, he's thinking, this guy's
really going to hurt me.”
Aparicio, who typically spent four months in
Indio and the rest of the year in Salinas, left
the city the day after the murder and was
arrested March 2, 2007, in Salinas,
according to Indio police and court records.
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