Man pleads guilty to killing wife

Just before opening statements were to be given in a murder trial Monday, a former National City man pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2010 slaying of his estranged wife, Diana Gonzalez, in a San Diego City College bathroom.

Armando Gabriel Perez, 41, who months ago won the right to represent himself as his own attorney, raised his hand after San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers finished instructing the jury.

Perez said he wanted to plead guilty. Rogers temporarily excused the jurors to wait outside in the hallway. Perez then pleaded guilty to murdering his 19-year-old wife and also admitted the special circumstance of lying in wait.
Rogers repeatedly told Perez he faced a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole and Perez said he understood that. Rogers said he would receive no jail credits because the sentence is life without parole.

Sentencing was set for Jan. 16, 2015. Perez remains in jail without bail.

Gonzalez, who lived in National City, was repeatedly stabbed to death after she left a City College class at night on Oct. 12, 2010. The couple had a 9-month-old daughter who has since been adopted by the victim’s parents.

“I would like to make a statement to her parents,” said Perez.
Rogers said he could do so at sentencing, but after the guilty plea was completed, the judge allowed Perez to turn around and face the mother of the victim in the audience and speak.

“I am so sorry,” said Perez.

“Save your words!” said the victim’s mother.

Perez then spoke in Spanish to the mother, and his words were interpreted in English to the judge, but Perez was stopped from saying more. The victim’s mother began crying.

Rogers said this to the victim’s family: “I am profoundly sorry for the tragedy your family has suffered and I hope the healing can begin.”

Rogers then directed the jury to return to the courtroom and he explained to them that Perez pleaded guilty. He thanked them and said they were discharged.

“His apology to me meant nothing,” Janette Gonzalez, 26, the victim’s sister, told reporters afterward. “It’s been hard.

It’s been four years, but it seems like yesterday.”

Janette Gonzalez said the guilty plea “made it easier for us” since they didn’t have to go through a murder trial which was estimated to last until Dec. 18. She said the brutality of the crime remains with the family.

Deputy District Attorney Teresa Santana said she wasn’t too surprised with the guilty plea considering he had made outbursts in court before. Perez tried to plead guilty at his first court appearance in August 2012, but it was declined.

“There was a history of domestic violence for their entire marriage which lasted a year,” said Santana, who added that after the couple separated Perez stalked his wife and even hid in a tree at the college before killing her.
“I think he pleaded guilty because of all the overwhelming evidence. He saw what the evidence was,” said Santana.

“The judge was very thorough in taking his plea.”

Santana said Perez repeatedly stabbed his wife “everywhere” on her body and “left her there under the dirty urinals” in the men’s bathroom.

Perez reportedly kidnapped his wife a month before her death and assaulted her before letting her go. Santana said the DA’s office did not prosecute because the victim did not want the case to go forward.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said at the time her office lacked proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Perez fled to Mexico after the slaying, and Mexican authorities arrested him at a bar in February 2012.

Dumanis promised the Mexican government she would not seek the death penalty against Perez and he was extradited to San Diego in August 2012.