Fitchburg man convicted in wife's gruesome murder

Mike Miller  —  7/19/2008 7:44 am

Julio Marin-Garcia was found guilty Friday afternoon of first-degree intentional homicide for the brutal murder of his wife Oct. 17, 2007, in the apartment they shared in Fitchburg, by a jury which rejected a defense claim that Marin-Garcia was acting in the heat of passion when he realized his eight-year marriage was coming to an end.

Marin-Garcia, 28, showed no emotion as Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Markson read the verdict, in which the jury accepted the contention of prosecutors that Marin-Garcia's action killing of Yuliana Hernandez-Hernandez, 23, amounted to first-degree murder.

Jurors deliberated for about 3 1/2 hours before reaching the verdict.

Judge Markson did not immediately sentence Marin-Garcia and ordered a pre-sentence report prepared by the Department of Corrections.

Marin-Garcia will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison when Markson sentences him, but the judge will also have the ability to set a date when Marin-Garcia can asked to be released on extended supervision. Markson can set that date at anytime after Marin-Carcia has served 20 years in prison, or can deny it altogether, meaning Marin-Garcia would spend the rest of his life in prison.

Testimony in the week-long trial showed Marin-Garcia stabbed and slashed his wife some 20 times in a murder which was recorded on a voice-activated digital recorder. He had used the recorder earlier, and made handwritten notes, in which he apologized for his actions to his children and told others how to dispose of his property.

Assistant District Attorneys Corey Stephan and Christopher Freeman contended in closing arguments Friday that the notes were done in preparation for the killing of his wife, calling them "homicide letters," while defense attorneys Jon Helland and Luis Cuevas contended Marin-Garcia meant only to commit suicide and killed his wife only after losing control when he saw his wife's new lover.

Jurors also heard the audio recording of the murder played again during closing arguments. On it Marin-Garcia and Hernandez-Hernandez are heard having a conversation about the division of property as their marriage was breaking up, and then there is a pause, followed by rustling sounds and the sudden piercing screams of Herndandez-Hernandez as she is repeatedly slashed and stabbed.

With the playing of the tape Friday her relatives, seated in the front row of the courtroom, were reduced to sobs as they listened to Hernadez-Hernadez's screams and, in the words of Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan, "her last breath."

The verdict was greeted with sobs from relatives of Marin-Garcia, seated behind him in the first row of that side of the courtroom. Along with the playing of the recording, the decision brought life to the words of Assistant State Public Defender Cuevas when he said in his closing argument that "this is a tragedy that will live with these families for the rest of their lives."

Most of the facts surrounding the killing were not in dispute. In the days leading up to the murder, Marino-Garcia had come to realize that his wife was having an affair with another man. Hernandez-Hernandez admitted her affair to Marin-Garcia and told him to move out of the apartment. The fact that Marin-Garcia killed his wife was never a question, although Marin-Garcia maintained that he did not remember anything about the killing.

Stephan and Freeman in closing arguments scoffed at that notion, saying it was a convenient loss of memory from a man who remembered other things about the night and morning of the murder in great detail.

Marin-Garcia called AT&T before the early morning murder to have his wife's cell phone service disconnected, called back to make sure it had been turned off and unplugged the landline phone in the apartment -- which prosecutors said showed he was making sure his wife had no way to call for help.

They also said that while the notes did not mention killing or suicide directly, the manner in which they were written showed that Marin-Garcia meant to kill his wife, and he explained to his children that what he was doing was wrong, but said he was doing so because his wife forced the issue.

Cuevas, however, said those same notes showed Marin-Garcia only wanted to commit suicide. He said it was the realization that he was losing his family drove him to lose control over his actions. The murder came after Marin-Garcia waited in the Leopold Lane apartment for his wife to return from work. She showed up in the early morning hours with Darwin Carrillo-Calle, her new lover.

In one of the few disputes at trial, the prosecution, through the testimony of Carrillo-Calle, said when she saw her husband, Hernandez-Hernandez told Carrillo-Calle to leave, and he heard the start of the recorded conversation as he did so. Marin-Garcia testified that he was asleep when he heard his wife come into the apartment, then heard a male voice make insulting remarks about him. Marin-Garcia rushed out of the bedroom and wanted to hit Carrillo-Calle, he testified, but his wife held him back while her lover fled.

A problem for Marin-Garcia was that he went on to say that he and his wife pushed and shoved each other  before they began to more calmly discuss the breakup. The recording, however, had no scuffling sounds before the discussion.

The defense wanted the jury to convict Marin-Garcia of the lesser crime of second-degree intentional homicide. Under Wisconsin's homicide laws, first-degree intentional homicide becomes second-degree if "adequate provocation," leads to an otherwise intentional killing. " 'Adequate' provocation means sufficient provocation to cause complete loss of self control in an ordinary person," instructions read to the jurors said.

" 'Complete loss of self control' is an extreme mental disturbance or emotional state. It is a state in which a person's ability to exercise judgment is overcome to the extent that the person acts uncontrollably. It is the highest degree of anger, rage or exasperation," jury instructions said.

Cuevas and Helland contended that the definition fit what Marin-Garcia went through the night and early morning of the murder, and Cuevas argued that the fact Marin-Garcia stabbed and slashed his wife 20 times show he had totally lost control.

But Stephan and Freeman countered that the 20 slashing and stabbing wounds came because Hernandez-Hernandez was fighting for her life and trying to escape. They also pointed to the testimony of pathologist Dr. Robert Huntington, who said the slashes to the neck would sever major arteries and veins, while stabs to the body were aimed at the heart.

That, argued the prosecutors, showed Marin-Garcia was in control of his actions.

After killing his wife, Marin-Garcia tried to kill himself by slashing his own throat, badly cutting a wrist and stabbing himself in the chest. Police who arrived at the apartment forced their way through the door that his injured body was obscuring. Marin-Garcia was rushed to a hospital and survived those injuries, testimony showed. 

The difference between the two crimes is not major. Although Marin-Garcia will now face life under state control, it could well be that his actual time behind bars will be no longer than if convicted of second-degree intentional homicide. Had he been convicted of that lesser offense, he would have faced a maximum prison term of 40 years followed by 20 years of extended supervision.

Testimony during the trial showed the Marin-Garcia and Hernandez-Hernandez met at a dance in their native Mexico when he was 18, working as a representive of a major brewery. She was 14 and with a group of friends. They began dating and were married. He illegally entered the U.S. and worked here for several months in hopes of earning enough money to build a home in Mexico, but then returned to Mexico because he missed his wife and son.

About 18 months later, after they had a daughter, he came back to the United States and worked two jobs, finally relenting to Hernandez-Hernandez to bring the family north. He still had dreams of putting aside enough money to build a home in Mexico, Cuevas said, when he found out his wife was having an affair and his marriage was over.

Mike Miller  —  7/19/2008 7:44 am