30-Year-Old Santa Ana Woman Gets 7 Years For Fatally Stabbing Husband
SANTA ANA (CBS) — A 30-year-old Santa Ana woman was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for the fatal stabbing of her husband on Easter weekend last year.
Janeth Vallejo Hernandez, who was sentenced by Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to manslaughter with a sentencing enhancement for using a deadly weapon. As part of the plea bargain, a murder charge was dismissed, according to Deputy D.A. Larry Yellin.
Hernandez and her 31-year-old husband, Carlos Humberto Vallejo, had plans to go to a family event for Easter, but instead went to a different party in Santa Ana on April 4, 2010. Hernandez left the party after midnight and drove home, but returned later to pick him up, Yellin said.
The two, who had three children together, quarreled while the rest of the family was asleep, Yellin said. Hernandez stabbed her husband in the thigh, hitting a main artery, and he died within a minute, the prosecutor said.
It's unclear what exactly happened in the conflict, which partly explains the reason for the plea bargain, Yellin said. Hernandez had bruises on her arm, but it's not clear whether her husband grabbed her in self-defense, Yellin said.
Hernandez was "acting bizarrely that night," but tests for drugs or alcohol in her system came back negative, Yellin said.
"Families from both sides were heartbroken for very obvious reasons," Yellin said of today's hearing.
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