Fitchburg man will cop to killing wife, but says it was unplanned
Jurors were told today by Assistant Public Defender Jon Helland that Julio Marin-Garcia will take responsibility for killing his wife last October, though he didn't intend to commit the act.
Helland, along with Assistant Public Defender Luis Cuevas, is representing Marin-Garcia, 28, in a murder trial which will last most of the week. Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Markson is presiding over the case. A jury of 10 men and four women was selected Monday to hear the case and were told by Helland that it "will be a difficult case."
Marin-Garcia is charged with first degree intentional homicide for the Oct. 17, 2007 slaying of his wife, Yuliana Hernandez-Hernandez, 23, at the apartment they shared in Fitchburg. Though attorneys on both sides agreed in their opening remarks that the killing came after Marin-Garcia discovered his wife was having an affair with another man, they disagreed on what level of murder Marin-Garcia, who tried to commit suicide after the killing, should be convicted.
Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan laid before the jury a scenario in which Marin-Garcia carefully planned to kill his wife, left notes explaining his actions and apologizing to his children, and then audio recorded the actual slaying.
Stephan opened his remarks to the jury by reading Marin-Garcia's words from one of the letters he left. "She mocked at me, she laughed at me," Stephan read from one of the notes. "So that converted my love into hatred."
"I have to do what I have to do," Stephan said Marin-Garcia wrote. To his children, ages 5 and 7, he said, "Kids, I love you," and added "What I did was not correct. ... I hope that one day you will forgive me."
Stephan said Marin-Garcia, who was living with his sister at the time, went to the apartment where he and Hernandez-Hernandez had resided to wait for her to return home from her night job. Marin-Garcia called to have her cell phone service canceled, unplugged the landline phone and wrote his notes of suicide and murder, Stephan said. After Hernandez-Hernandez returned home, the two argued about the placement of the children and who got what property, Stephan said, "and minutes later he attacks her and kills her with a large knife."
A voice activated digital recorder captured Marin-Garcia saying to himself, " 'OK, now b----,' " Stephan said, "and he attacks her and she starts screaming." Stephan told jurors they would hear Hernandez-Hernandez screaming "No, no, no," and begging for her life, then hear the sound of her gurgling when her windpipe is severed. "You are going to hear Yuliana Hernandez-Hernandez's final breath," he told jurors.
Helland did not dispute any of Stephan's description, but said Marin-Garcia lost all control when he saw his wife and her new lover come into the apartment. In days leading up to the murder, Marin-Garcia "is overcome with sadness and depression," Helland said, as his marriage is falling apart.
When he saw Yuliana and her boyfriend, who apparently left when he discovered Marin-Garcia was at the apartment, it was the final straw, Helland said.
"And that's when he snapped. And that's when he lost it," Helland told jurors, adding that Marin-Garcia acted not with intent to kill, but in the "heat of passion."
If convicted of first degree intentional homicide Marin-Garcia would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison, with Markson having the ability to set the parole eligibility date for Marin-Garcia. But if convicted of second degree murder, Marin-Garcia would face a maximum prison term of 40 years behind bars to be followed by 20 years of extended supervision.
Marin-Garcia moved to Madison from Mexico and sent for his wife and kids later, lawyers told the jury. Both he and his wife were working and he had dreams of one day having enough money to return to Mexico and buy a home, Helland said.
Instead, he is now on trial for a grisly murder. When Fitchburg police arrived at the apartment the night of the killing, they had trouble gaining entry because Marin-Garcia, who had cut his own throat, neck and wrist to commit suicide, was on the floor in front of the door. Once police entered, they found a gruesome scene with blood in several rooms and on the walls and Yuliana's lifeless body in a pool of blood. She had a severe gash across her throat and several stab wounds, including one to the back which went almost completely through her body, Stephan said.
