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Veronica
PAZ
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Love triangle
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: November 10, 2003
Date of arrest:
3 days after
Date of birth: 1982
Victim profile: Diego Armando
Gonzalez, 17 (her former boyfriend)
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Orange County, California, USA
Status:
Sentenced to 25-years-to-life term in prison on
December 14, 2006. Sentence overturned in 2008. Resentenced
to 15-year-to-life term in prison on February 10, 2011
SANTA ANA – In a voice that was barely audible, a
Garden Grove woman pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder for
her role in the love-triangle ambush shooting death of her former
boyfriend, a champion high school wrestler.
Veronica Paz, 28, was then sentenced to
15-year-to-life term in prison by Superior Court Judge James A.
Stotler for her role in the Nov. 10, 2003, slaying of Diego Armando
Gonzales, 17.
Gonzalez was a co-captain of the El Modena High
School wrestling team when he was shot in the face, then his body set
on fire and abandoned on a hilltop at a home construction site in
Orange Park Acres.
Before she pleaded guilty, Paz turned in her chair
at the counsel table and told Gonzalez' mother, father, sisters and
brothers: "I am really sorry. I never thought this would happen. I
didn't want him to die.
"I hope some day you can find in your hearts to
forgive me," she added with tears brimming in her eyes.
Stotler accepted Paz's guilty plea after he
listened to impact statements from Gonzalez's family, who wept in the
ninth-floor courtroom during the 30-minute hearing.
"That woman is a criminal murderer who killed my
son," Maria Sanchez Gonzalez, Diego's mother, said through an
interpreter. "I miss my son a lot. That woman should not be released."
Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy contended
during Paz's 2006 trial that she plotted with her longtime on-again,
off-again boyfriend Brandan Dante Perry to murder Gonzalez out of
jealousy, anger and revenge.
Paz, a slender, dark-haired grocery clerk, wanted
Gonzalez dead because she was angry that he was dating someone else
but was still calling her from time to time for sex, McGreevy argued.
She initially faced a possible life term in prison
without the possibility of parole when she was arrested and charged in
2003 with committing Gonzalez's murder during the special circumstance
of lying-in-wait.
Jurors in Paz's trial in 2006 convicted her of
first-degree murder but decided that the special-circumstance
allegation was not true, providing her with a chance at parole.
The first-degree murder was overturned in 2008 by
the 4th District Court of Appeal, who ruled that her jury was given
erroneous instructions. That finding sent Paz back to Orange County
Superior Court for a retrial.
She pleaded guilty Thursday, three days before jury
selection was scheduled to begin for what would have been her second
trial.
Paz will now be eligible for parole consideration
in about 2018.
Perry, a former star football player at Santiago
High School, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2005 for his
role in the murder and is serving a 25-year-to-life sentence.
He escaped a potential life-without-parole sentence
by pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against Paz that they both
plotted to kill Gonzalez.
Perry told the jury that Paz lured Gonzalez to an
isolated construction site in Orange Park Acres with a promise of sex,
while he waited in the darkness with a handgun.
He testified that Paz was making out with Gonzalez
in the back seat of her car when he ran up, dragged Gonzalez out of
the car at the point of the gun, shot him twice in the face.
"He took a step forward," Perry testified. "I shot
him."
Perry said that he and Paz then recruited several
friends to help destroy evidence by setting Gonzalez's body on fire
and in providing them with an alibi.
Two of those friends, Tommy Medina, 24, and
Kimberly Gomez, 24, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the
fact and were given short sentences in county jail.
Arthur Gomez, 20, also pleaded guilty to accessory
and was sentenced to the California Youth Authority.
Paz later told Sheriff's Department investigators
when she was interviewed that she intentionally took Gonzalez to the
construction site because she felt Gonzalez had been "playing me" as
he tried to get back with a former girlfriend.
Defense attorney William Kelley, who represented
Paz during her 2006 trial, argued that Paz believed she was setting up
Gonzalez to be beaten, not murdered.
Woman gets life
for love-triangle murder
Veronica Paz was convicted of first-degree murder
for luring a high school wrestler to his death
By Larry Welborn -
The Orange County Register
Friday, December 15,
2006
A weeping father told a judge today that his
murdered son – a champion high school wrestler – was a good person who
loved sports, his family and friends, and always thought he would be
around to help his mother.
"I miss my son very much and I will never see him
again," Felix Gonzalez said. "I want this criminal to receive the full
weight of the law."
Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler complied.
He sentenced Veronica Paz, 24, to the maximum
penalty of 25 years to life on her first-degree murder conviction for
luring Diego Gonzalez, 17, to an isolated construction site in Orange,
where he was shot to death in October 2003 by her longtime boyfriend.
Paz, who also briefly dated Diego Gonzalez, sat
stiffly at a counsel table, her eyes misting with tears.
Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy contended
that Paz and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brandan Dante Perry,
23, plotted Gonzalez's death out of jealousy, anger and revenge.
Perry pleaded guilty to first-degree murder earlier
this year and agreed to testify against Paz. He also received a
25-years-to-life term in prison in September.
Guilty verdict in
love-triangle killing
Veronica Paz is convicted of first-degree murder in
the death of her 17-year-old former beau. She faces a mandatory 25
years to life.
By Larry Welborn -
The Orange County Register
Tuesday, August 29,
2006
Maria Sanchez Gonzalez clutched a tissue
as she sat in a courtroom gallery Monday surrounded by her two
daughters, two remaining sons and several other relatives. She
strained to hear the reading of the verdict.
Veronica Paz, the young woman who once dated
Sanchez Gonzalez's 17-year-old son, sat rigidly at the counsel table a
few feet away as she too waited for the word on her fate.
Both women remained wide-eyed and motionless
moments later when court clerk Suyin Young revealed the jury's
decision:
Paz was guilty of first-degree murder for her role
in luring Diego Gonzalez, a 17-year-old champion high school wrestler,
to an ambush by her longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend on Nov. 10,
2003.
But the seven-man, five-woman also decided that the
special-circumstance allegation that Paz was "lying in wait" to commit
murder was not true.
That finding saved Paz, 24, of Garden Grove, from a
sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler will now
impose a mandatory 25-years-to-life sentence on Dec. 1. Paz will be
eligible for parole after 18 years.
That is the same sentence that Brandan Dante Perry,
Paz's boyfriend since junior high school, was promised in March after
he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and agreed to testify against
his former love.
However, Perry's performance on the witness stand
caused jurors to question whether Paz intended to have Gonzalez killed
when she enticed him to an isolated home construction site in Orange
Park Acres with a promise of sex.
Perry testified that he waited by prior agreement
with Paz at the construction site so he could surprise Gonzalez with a
handgun. He said he dragged Gonzalez out of the car, shot him twice in
the face and then tried to set the body on fire to cover up evidence.
Juror Jeremy Gorr, 34, of Laguna Beach said later
that he and other jurors felt that Perry "lied in almost every
statement he made."
The deliberations then centered on whether Paz had
"murderous intent" when she brought Gonzalez to the spot where he was
killed, knowing that Perry was there waiting, Gorr said.
"We knew that she at least wanted Diego to be
beaten," Gorr said. "But we had no corroboration that she wanted him
killed, other than from Brandan."
He added: "It was frustrating. We all believe she
should get the longest possible time. I'm very sorry for Diego's
family that we couldn't reach that level."
Juror Rich Adler, 59, of Orange, agreed. He said
that deciding Paz was guilty of first-degree murder was easy,
especially after jurors watched videotapes of four interviews Paz gave
to Orange County sheriff's investigators before she was arrested.
In the fourth interview, Paz said she intentionally
brought Gonzalez to the construction site knowing Perry waited with a
gun because she felt that Gonzalez was "playing me" as he tried to get
back together with a former girlfriend.
Several jurors hugged each other as they left the
11th-floor courtroom after three days of deliberations following the
three-week trial.
Sanchez Gonzalez, who listened to almost every
minute of testimony even though she does not speak English, said later
through an interpreter that she was grateful that Paz was found
guilty.
But she said she was sad Paz will have a chance for
parole.
"She still has her life, but my son is never coming
home," Sanchez Gonzalez said. "She should never have the chance to get
out. Never."
Timeline
Mid-1990s: Brandan Dante Perry and
Veronica Paz meet while both are attending Portola Middle School. The
couple begins to date, starting an on-again, off-again romance that
would last for years.
Late 1990s: Perry becomes a star
running back for the Santiago High School football team until his
senior year, when he is ruled ineligible because of poor grades.
Summer 2003: While still having a
relationship with Perry, Paz begins dating Diego Gonzalez, a CIF
champion wrestler at El Modena High School, after meeting him at the
Stater Bros. supermarket in Orange where they both worked. Gonzalez
reportedly breaks off the relationship in September, but still calls
Paz on occasions for sex.
August 2003: Perry confronts
Gonzalez at a party when he sees him with Paz. But Perry is chased off
when one of Gonzalez's friends or relatives brandishes a gun.
Nov. 9-10, 2003: Paz brings
Gonzalez to an isolated home construction site at Orange Park Acres,
and they start making out in the back seat of the car. Perry drives up
shortly after midnight, forces Gonzalez out of the car and shoots him
twice.
Nov. 12-13, 2003: Orange County
sheriff's investigators question and arrest Perry and Paz after
learning about the love triangle.
March 28, 2006: Perry pleads
guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a promise of a life with
parole eligibility if he testifies truthfully against Paz.
July 31, 2006: Jury selection
begins in Paz's murder trial.
Aug. 28, 2006: Paz is convicted of
first-degree murder.
