The woman accused of killing her ex-husband and former Exeter police officer Daniel Green is guilty, says a Tulare County jury that convicted the woman Thursday.
The jury found Erika Sandoval guilty of first-degree murder for lying in wait ahead of slaying her ex-husband.
During her first trial, the jury couldn’t reach a verdict, pushing her next trial out more than five years. At the time, one juror was adamant Sandoval wasn’t guilty.
This jury started deliberations Tuesday, three months after the trial began. Opening statements began exactly 10 years after Green was found dead.
Sandoval, now 38, will be sentenced June 5.
Recap
On Feb. 6, 2015, Exeter police Sgt. Brett Inglehart found his fellow officer dead in Green’s Goshen home after he failed to report for duty. Green was discovered in his bathroom, tangled in a shower curtain and covered in blood. He had been shot four times; the fatal wound was to the head, according to the Tulare County Coroner.
Video footage from a neighbor’s security camera showed Green’s ex-wife, Erika Sandoval, arriving at the home shortly before Green and leaving less than an hour later. Prosecutors allege Sandoval broke into the home, hid in a closet, and ambushed Green once he entered his bedroom.
The defense has a different version.
Sandoval and Green had a tumultuous, five-year relationship that included frequent arguments, even after their divorce. Days before the killing, Green had posted a photo of himself with a new girlfriend. Investigators later found the woman’s name and birthdate written on a note in Sandoval’s purse.
Assistant District Attorney David Alavezos said jealousy was the motive. Prosecutors presented recordings in court of Sandoval taunting Green, including a 2012 clip in which she told him, “No one is ever going to want you.”
Sandoval has admitted to the killing but claims it was the result of years of abuse and intimidation. She testified that Green assaulted her multiple times, including a 2010 incident where she said he threw her against a wall, grabbed her neck and pulled her by the hair. Green was twice arrested on domestic violence allegations, though charges were never filed.
Sandoval was also arrested once, but her case was not pursued either.
Sandoval faces life in prison, but the ultimate decision will be made by a Tulare County judge.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare County jury convicts Erika Sandoval in Exeter officer’s 2015 ambush slaying
Reporting by Meade Trueworthy / Visalia Times-Delta
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