After only 4 1/2 hours deliberations, a jury Friday found Armando Gabriel Perez guilty of first-degree murder in stabbing his 19-year-old wife, Diana Gonzalez, from National City in 2010.
“Thank you,” said Perez to the San Diego Superior Court jury as they were leaving the courtroom.
The seven man, five woman jury also convicted Perez, now 44, of the special circumstance of lying in wait at San Diego City College where his wife was a student and to using a knife to kill her inside a men’s bathroom on Oct. 12, 2010.
The verdict means Perez will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Judge Fred Link, who set sentencing for Nov. 16. He remains in jail without bail.
Perez acted as his own lawyer in 2015, but decided to plead guilty to first-degree murder and the special circumstance charge after hearing prosecutor Theresa Santana’s opening statement to a jury. An appeals court ruled the Judge Charles Rogers erred in allowing Perez to plead guilty to murder with the special circumstance charge even though Perez had earlier won his right to represent himself.
This trial began Aug. 28 with jury selection and Perez was represented by attorney Bart Sheela Jr., who argued to jurors Thursday that he should only be convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
“Mr. Perez wanted to thank you,” said Sheela to jurors afterwards.
Gonzalez’s family was not in the courtroom Friday, but they will speak at Perez’s sentencing, said Deputy District Attorney Jessica Lees. Another prosecutor, Claudia Grasso, said she informed one sister of the verdict by phone and she said the sister burst into tears.
“We were fortunate to get a jury which could handle this subject matter,” said Lees. “It was a gruesome murder.”
Perez met Gonzalez in 2007 and they lived together in National City before Gonzalez gave birth to a daughter in Dec., 2009, who is believed now to be with her family. They got married in Jan., 2010, but they broke up seven months later.
Her family members said Perez kidnapped Gonzalez and held her against her will in motel rooms in Sept., 2010. Former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said there was not enough evidence to charge Perez and he was released from jail.
Gonzalez filed a restraining order against Perez and she moved back into her parents home in National City. Her parents were outside City College waiting for her night class to end when she was killed.
Perez stabbed Gonzalez repeatedly and carved a vulgar word onto her back. He grabbed her when she left a night class and killed her after locking a men’s bathroom door. He fled the area and went into Mexico.
Perez was arrested in Feb., 2012, by Mexican authorities at a Tijuana bar, and he was extradited from Mexico City on Aug. 21, 2012 to San Diego. Perez surprised everyone at his arraignment by repeatedly saying “I’m guilty!” although the judge entered a not guilty plea for him.
Perez had difficulty with attorneys and won the right to act as his own lawyer only to plead guilty on the first day of his trial in Nov., 2014. Rogers sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole, and he was sent to a prison in Soledad in Monterey County.
The 4th District Court of Appeal reversed his guilty plea on July 27, 2016, and he was transferred back to county jail here for trial.
