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Plea Bargain Reached in Manslaughter

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Stephanie Rene Vick and her sister, Sonya Lee, claimed that they only wanted to teach Sonya’s abusive boyfriend a lesson. They bound and gagged Antonio Ariza and left him in a closet in a Santa Ana home to think about what he had done.

But Ariza suffocated.

On Tuesday, a defense lawyer revealed that the sisters have struck a plea bargain: Stephanie, 28, and Sonya, 33, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and, in exchange, the prosecutor agreed to ask the judge to sentence them to no more than a year in county jail.

Deputy Orange County Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson said he could not comment about whether such an agreement had been reached on sentencing--scheduled for Nov. 9 before Superior Court Judge Myron S. Brown.

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But the prosecutor said that a stiff punishment is not appropriate in light of the circumstances surrounding Ariza’s death.

“We’re convinced these women did not mean to kill him. But they did a very, very stupid thing, and should have to pay a penalty for it,” Robinson said.

According to police, Ariza, a 42-year-old native of Panama, attacked Sonya Vick during an argument in the home they shared in the 1700 block of Richland Avenue on June 9.

“Stephanie came to her sister’s defense, and the two of them were able to overpower him,” said Stephanie Vick’s lawyer, Patrick McNeal. “They tied him up and gagged him. Then they left him. They had no idea what would happen.”

The two women used television cable, wire and bed sheets to tie him up, then put bed linen in his mouth and taped it, according to police. Then they dragged him to the closet. His body was found five days later by a third Vick sister, Sheryl Lynn, 34, who also lived in the house.

Robinson said medical reports indicate that Ariza’s own actions may have led to his death.

“If he had remained in the closet, he might have survived,” Robinson said. “But he managed to work his way out of the closet. His own contortions of his body in his efforts forced the gag deeper into his mouth.”

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Robinson said Stephanie and Sonya Vick had called neighbors asking them to check the house, apparently in an attempt to see if Ariza was all right.

“I think the prosecutors had some proof problems if they had gone to trial. But we had some problems too,” the defense lawyer said. “There is no question that the two sisters left the victim in an extremely vulnerable position.”

But Robinson said Ariza’s own assaultive behavior was a factor in not filing more serious charges against the two sisters.

“The women decided they had to do something about it, but it backfired,” the prosecutor said.

From the beginning, Robinson noted, the charges were involuntary manslaughter--not murder.

“This was not a case of malice. It was gross negligence,” he said.

McNeal and Robinson both agree that the three Vick sisters are close. Stephanie and Sonya reportedly came to Orange County from Kansas City last spring to help Sheryl after she was about to be evicted from her home and had to give up her baby to county authorities. Ariza followed them west.

Police reports show that officers had been called to the house several times because of loud arguments.

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“Apparently there had been a lot of trouble between the victim and the sisters,” McNeal said. “They just decided they had had enough and tied him up to teach him a lesson.

“They never dreamed anything like this could have happened,” he reiterated.

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