Woman Charged With Murder in Husband’s Slaying

A 31-year-old Oxnard mother of four who allegedly shot and killed her husband Friday in front of two Oxnard police officers and her 11-year-old son was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder.

But Edna Reyes, who had a restraining order against her husband for spousal and child abuse until last month, had her arraignment postponed for two weeks to give the public defender time to prepare.

Clad in her blue county jail smock, Reyes appeared nervous and tired as she listened to Municipal Judge John Smiley ask if she would allow him to postpone the matter until July 17.

At one point, misunderstanding the judge, Reyes blurted out in Spanish, “I’m not guilty, your honor.”

Assistant Public Defender Jean L. Farley said her client was still traumatized by what had occurred.

“She is afraid,” Farley said. “Her legs are shaking. Her entire body is in tremors. You can see how frightened she is. . . . She’s like a jack rabbit in headlights.”

But Farley said Reyes was more concerned about what happens to her four children--ages 3 to 11--than what happened to her.

“She’s more concerned about them than life itself,” Farley said.

Reyes had a history of documented abuse at the hands of her husband, Martin Reyes, and was worried about him abusing her children, according to Farley.

Three years ago, Reyes obtained a restraining order against her husband after he allegedly tried to throw her over a railing in front of her apartment. Although her husband was arrested for the incident, charges were never filed.

In a statement in the restraining order, Reyes said her husband had repeatedly beat her and her children. She said he had beaten her with a belt and sticks and at one point beat her with an ax handle.

“I still have a scar,” she said in the statement.

Her husband also allegedly threatened to hurt her if she ever told police about the incidents.

“He will beat me very badly and said he would cut my throat,” Reyes said.

The restraining order expired only two weeks before Reyes and her husband fought Friday evening after her husband came to her apartment in an apparent attempt to visit the children.

Police were called to the scene, but when they determined that the restraining order was not in effect they told her there were no violations of the law.

While the husband was talking to officers in the parking lot outside, Edna Reyes went into the apartment to collect her things.

She came out and walked behind her husband while he was speaking with the officers. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a handgun and, according to police, shot her husband twice in the chest, killing him instantly.

Police said the two officers knocked the gun out of her hands, which was then picked up by Reyes’s 11-year-old son, who shouted “No!”

The officers wrestled the gun out of the boy’s hands and arrested his mother. The children were taken by officials from the county’s child protective service office, Farley said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox, who is prosecuting the case, said outside the courtroom that the incident appears to be a clear-cut case of murder. Reyes was not under any immediate threat of violence, according to Fox.

“From the relevant evidence it appears that this woman cold bloodedly killed her husband,” she said.

For more than three years, Fox has prosecuted domestic abuse cases, most involving husbands who abuse their wives and children. She said there was no irony in her working to prosecute a woman charged with killing an abuser. Fox said her background would only become relevant “if domestic violence plays a central role in this case.”

Public Defender Farley said there was no doubt it would be relevant. She commended the district attorney’s office for using Fox, who would be sensitive to the issues of domestic violence.

“She has objective knowledge of the effects violent beatings have on a human being,” Farley said.