CALIFORNIA WOMAN WAS SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR EXECUTING HER EX-HUSBAND WHILE HE SAT ON THE TOILET. NOW, SHE COULD BE FREE IN 12 YEARS.
A California woman who shot her ex-husband in cold blood while using the toilet was sentenced to life. However, she might walk free in 12 years.
Tulare County Judge Juliet Boccone sentenced 38-year-old Erika Sandoval to 50 years to life for the shooting death of her 31-year-old ex-husband and former Exeter police officer, Daniel Green. After an initial hung jury in 2019, Sandoval was found guilty and convicted of premeditated first-degree murder with special allegations of personally and intentionally using a firearm at the second trial.
On Feb. 6, 2015, officers and colleagues of the victim responded to Green's Goshen home within the farmlands and orchard area of central California after the victim failed to show up at work. Upon arrival, they found Green with multiple gunshot wounds
According to prosecutors, Sandoval, who at the time of the murder had been living separately from her ex-husband for over a year and shared the custody of their two-year-old son, had gained entry into the home and disarmed the victim’s firearms except a handgun. While Green was sitting on the toilet, Sandoval shot him once in the forehead, in the chest, and in the neck as the victim stumbled into his bathtub, where he was pronounced dead.
Then, the defendant attempted to stage the scene as a robbery by taking the murder weapon, a few items from the house, and disposing of them on northbound Highway 99. Upon her arrest,
During the trial, Sandoval admitted to the killing after witness accounts of her domestic abuse and romantic jealousy history were submitted to the jury, which included taking a screenshot of Green’s photo with his new girlfriend a day before the murder. Green was killed a week after he posted a picture with his new girlfriend on Instagram, reported FOX 26 News..
Furthermore, Sandoval admitted to cutting the brake lines of the victim’s motorcycle and had a history of slashing an ex-boyfriend’s tires in a jealous rage.
In addition, prosecutors submitted audio and video files recorded by Green that showed verbal and physical abuse by the defendant in his attempt to protect himself from false accusations of domestic abuse by Sandoval.
"When everything was going the way they should be in her eyes, she was pleasant to be around. She was social, and she was nice. She was kind … it's only when things went bad or things didn't go her way that she became nasty and things got ugly between the two of them … And from what I saw, the bad was really bad," said Green's identical twin brother, Matt Green, reported CBS News.
Under California law, Sandoval, who had no prior convictions, will be eligible for an elder parole hearing when she’s 50 years old and has served 20 years consecutively. Jurors were unable to find the special circumstance of lying in wait, which would have qualified Sandoval for the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Green was an 11-year veteran of the Exeter Police Department.