Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Man Takes Stand Again in Ex-Wife’s Trial

In his second emotional day of testimony in the murder trial of his former wife, Alfredo Massip said Thursday that he divorced Sheryl Lynn Massip because “I couldn’t live with the woman that murdered my son.”

Defense attorney Milton C. Grimes recalled Alfredo Massip to the stand to try and show that Sheryl Massip was mentally and emotionally unbalanced after the birth of their son.

Sheryl Massip claims that she was temporarily insane when she ran over her 6-week-old infant with her car in April, 1987, and that she was suffering from a rare maternal disorder known as postpartum psychosis.

But under sharp questioning from Grimes, Alfredo Massip denied that he took the bullets out of his gun for fear of Sheryl’s mental state after the baby’s birth, that he told friends Sheryl was depressed and was having a nervous breakdown or that he refused to allow Sheryl to take the colicky baby to the hospital.

Massip also said numerous times in Superior Court in Santa Ana that he could not recall other events or conversations that Grimes introduced in hopes of showing Sheryl’s frail mental state.

Toward the end of the long day of testimony, Grimes blurted out to Alfredo Massip, “Is there a reason why you don’t remember any of my questions but remember all of (the deputy district attorney’s) on the same subject matters?”