Man Gets Life Sentence for His Attempt to Kill Wife : Oxnard: Husband shot the woman from less than two feet away because she attended a Baptist service. Three of their grown children plead for leniency for their father.

An Oxnard man who was angry with his wife because she attended Baptist instead of Catholic church services was sentenced to life in prison Friday for attempting to murder her.

Juan Barrios Amaro, 48, was given the sentence required by law, despite pleas from three of his grown children for leniency. He will be eligible for parole in about 10 years, Deputy Public Defender John H. Voigtsberger said.

Amaro was convicted of attempted first-degree murder for shooting his wife of 29 years in the shoulder and face with a hunting rifle from less than two feet away. Beatriz Amaro’s right arm is partially paralyzed and her face severely disfigured as a result of the March 8 incident, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice D. Koenig said.

“The case . . . is particularly tragic, not only in what it’s done to the victim but what it’s done to the family,” Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch said.

Amaro told a probation officer he does not remember much about the shooting, which took place after a night of drinking. But he said he was angry with his wife because she insisted on going to a Baptist church instead of remaining Catholic.

Several hours before the shooting, police were called to aid Beatriz Amaro after her husband dragged her out of a church service, according to court documents. Police drove her home, and she hid her husband’s guns because she feared something would happen as a result of the confrontation at church, according to the records.

Amaro found the guns and shot his wife in their bedroom, according to court documents. He was reloading the weapon when a son came into the room to stop him, the court records say.

Storch convicted Amaro in a non-jury trial. In finding that it was attempted first-degree murder, the judge rejected defense claims that Amaro did not premeditate the crime.

Three of the Amaros’ four children spoke on his behalf at the sentencing hearing and blamed their father’s behavior on alcohol.

“I realize that what my father did was very harmful to my mother,” said Esperanza Moto, 28. “I just hope that my dad doesn’t have to pay too much for what he did. This is very hard, but I really don’t think that he wanted to kill her.”

Rosa Amaro, 23, choked back tears as she addressed the court and pleaded for leniency.

“I know what he did was wrong,” she said. “I don’t want him to spend the rest of his life in jail. I need him.”

Beatriz Amaro was not in court for the sentencing. She told a probation officer that her children have turned against her since the shooting.

Court records show that Amaro had a 1991 misdemeanor conviction for spousal battery.

In addition to imposing life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for the attempted murder, Storch added six years to the sentence because Amaro used a gun to commit the crime and inflicted great bodily injury.