The location where Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo was shot on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014.; Credit: Erika Aguilar/KPCC
The son of murdered Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo told a police officer that his mother shot his father three times in the side last fall during an argument that he tried to break up but couldn't after his father punched him in the eye, according to grand jury testimony revealed yesterday.
Last month, the wife of Crespo pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors claim Lyvette Crespo shot her husband three times in the chest during an argument at their home in Bell Gardens. Her attorney, Eber Bayona, told reporters, "I want to ask the public to maintain an open mind and to wait until all the evidence has been presented before they make a final opinion about what happened. I'm asking you not to try Ms. Crespo in the media."
However, more sordid details about the couple's marriage emerged yesterday. Text messages show the mayor bragged to his co-workers and his wife about extramarital affairs and held a "faux wedding" for a girlfriend in Las Vegas last year.
Could these revelations taint jury selection? What are the right types of jurors to try a case with a seemingly unsympathetic victim?