Upland woman takes plea bargain in husband's sword killing
RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A woman initially charged with murder for stabbing her husband to death in Upland reached a plea bargain with prosecutors today that carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
Naomi Valdivia, 35, has long maintained that she was acting in self-defense when she killed 36-year-old Jose Luis Gonzales with a sword on April 26, 2008.
Her prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Nancy Cooper, said the outcome of a trial in Valdivia's case would depend largely on the testimony of her children, who Cooper said might be inclined to support their mother's version of what happened when Gonzales was killed.
Gonzales was killed following an argument between he and his wife in the family's apartment in the 800 block of West Orchid Court, near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and San Antonio Avenue.
Prosecutors initially charged Valdivia, a mother of five, with murder and other felonies for her husband's death. But according to her family, she has long maintained she acted in self-defense.
"She was beaten that night," Lydia Arias, Valdivia's sister, said last year. "He brandished a weapon, his own personal weapon in the house that night, came at her with it and assaulted her with it first."
Valdivia pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter this afternoon in West Valley Superior Court, and is scheduled to be sentenced May 3.
Her plea bargain carries sentencing "lid" of seven years, which means her sentence can't exceed seven years, Cooper said.
Click here to read past blog posts on Valdivia's case.
My first love is English steam, but Im becoming trnsfaixed by the might of American steam. This shows just how big an American pacific is compared to so called big British locos. Some of my favourite locos are the Pennsylvania K4s and the Bigboys. How great it would be to see a Bigboy running but my understanding is? none are in working order. 3751 is mighty and beautiful
David,It's funny you say that. We really have to aesccs out here for training. That park I was at the other was started for training dogs and has since truned into a "dog walkers heaven" . The state is going to fence it in and I don't blame them. The erosion is aweful. So if I don't go there I drive 80 miles one way to train!!So what I'm saying is that I miss the aesccs that I had back east..M