COSTA MESA : Prison Urged for Slayer of Husband

Orange County probation officials are recommending a prison term and continued psychiatric treatment for Omaima Nelson, the Costa Mesa woman convicted of murdering and dismembering her husband, her attorney said Friday.

Nelson’s sentencing Friday was postponed till March 12, said Deputy Public Defender Thomas G. Mooney. While prosecutors during the trial depicted Nelson as a predator who preyed on men, Mooney said Nelson is a mentally disturbed woman who grew up in an abusive environment and turned on her husband when he began physically and sexually assaulting her.

Nelson, 26, was convicted Jan. 12 of second-degree murder in the November, 1991, slaying of William Nelson, 56, of Costa Mesa. Nelson was additionally convicted of assaulting a previous boyfriend one year earlier.

Mooney said William Nelson’s background, which includes a 1984 conviction on federal charges of conspiracy to possess and import marijuana, suggested that he was capable of the type of violence that drove Omaima Nelson to murder him. Mooney said he believes that Omaima Nelson turned on her husband because she feared for her safety.

“She’s had terribly abusive relationships with men, and she went over the edge when it started happening again,” Mooney said.

Omaima Nelson is eligible for a sentence of probation, but it is not likely she will receive such a lenient sentence.