Pomona man gets 8 years for slashing girlfriend
A 24-year-old man accused of repeatedly slashing his girlfriend with a box cutter has been sentenced to eight years in prison after accepting a plea offer from prosecutors.
Jose Rodriguez, of Pomona, was accused of slashing his girlfriend's stomach, back and chest several times Aug. 30 in a room he rented in the 500 block of Randolph Street.
He was also accused of slashing the woman's hand, leaving a four-inch wound that prevents the woman from making a fist.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a single county of mayhem Monday in Pomona Superior Court. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed a count of attempted murder.
If he had been convicted on both counts, he would have faced a prison sentence of up to 13 years, Deputy District Attorney Samer Hathout said in December.
At a preliminary hearing in December, one of Rodriguez's housemates testified that she heard Rodriguez and his girlfriend arguing the morning of the attack.
The housemate, 19-year-old Carolina Cobian, said she heard what sounded like Rodriguez hitting his girlfriend, then the girlfriend yelling.
When Rodriguez left his bedroom shortly after the noise began, he was covered in blood, Cobian testified.
Rodriguez's girlfriend, Susana Mendoza, also testified at the preliminary hearing. She said she was drunk and did not remember details of the attack.
During the December hearing, Rodriguez lifted her shirt to reveal long, straight scars the slash wounds left on her stomach, back and chest. She also demonstrated her inability to form a fist with her left hand.
Despite her injuries -- apparently at the hand of Rodriguez -- Mendoza testified in December that she didn't want to see her boyfriend punished for the attack.
"I still love him," she testified.
In December, Hathout declined to comment on what she believed motivated Rodriguez's attack.
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