Saturday, April 12, 2014

Texas woman receives life sentence for stiletto killing

Trujillo took the stand for seven hours on Thursday as part of her sentencing hearing

A Texas woman has been sentenced to life in prison for stabbing her boyfriend to death with the five-inch (13cm) stiletto heel of her shoe.
Ana Trujillo, 45, told a judge she "never wanted to kill" Alf Stefan Andersson and acted in self-defence.
But Andersson was struck at least 25 times in the neck and the face inside his Houston flat.
Trujillo had been found guilty of the murder on Tuesday. Jurors spent four hours deliberating on the sentence.
Prosecutor John Jordan asked jurors to deliver a life sentence, the maximum for the crime, saying Trujillo both violently killed Andersson and tried to ruin his reputation by claiming he had abused her.
"Send the message that in our community, when you beat a man to death for no reason, when you come into a courtroom and you slaughter his good name... that we in Texas are going to hold you accountable," Mr Jordan said.
Defence lawyers argued Trujillo had beaten him only in an attempt to get away after an hour-long fight during which she was chased, knocked into a wall and thrown over a sofa.
"I never meant to hurt him," Trujillo said before the judge confirmed the jury's decision. "It was never my intent. I loved him. I wanted to get away. I never wanted to kill him."
Her lawyers asked for a sentence of two years.
During the trial, prosecutors highlighted that Trujillo did not have any injuries after the confrontation, a claim her lawyers contested, while Andersson had defensive wounds on his hands and wrists.
The jury agreed with prosecutors on Friday, finding the crime had not been committed in the heat of sudden passion, which would have limited Trujillo's sentence to no more than 20 years.

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