Oxnard Man Allegedly Slain by Wife Was Once Jailed for Spousal Abuse

An Oxnard man who died last week when his wife allegedly shot him in front of two Oxnard police officers once went to jail in Oakland for spousal abuse.

Martin Valencia Reyes pleaded guilty to beating and kicking his wife in December 1989, served two weeks in Alameda County Jail and spent two years on probation.

Edna Reyes told Oakland police officers at the time of her husband’s arrest that he had been beating her and their children regularly, according to court documents.

“For the past five years almost every day he has been hitting me and my children,” Edna Reyes said in a statement to the Oakland police. “He was arrested in Idaho during July ’89 for beating me and my children severely.”

Attorneys for Edna Reyes, who remains in Ventura County Jail accused of first-degree murder, said the woman lived in fear and that her history of abuse at the hands of her husband would become a factor in any defense.

“I am afraid that he might kill us, or hurt us badly. . . . His beatings have been getting worse,” Edna Reyes told police in 1989.

Prosecutors, however, say that because she was not in any immediate danger at the time of the shooting, a so-called “battered-woman syndrome” defense may not hold up in court.

The night of the incident, Martin Reyes was apparently trying to visit his four children, ages 3 to 11, neighbors said.

Edna Reyes had a restraining order against her husband that for three years had kept him away from her and the children. But unbeknown to her, the restraining order expired just a few weeks before the shooting.

During the visit, the couple began to fight, and neighbors called the police. But because the restraining order was no longer in effect, officers told Edna Reyes that there was no violation of the law, police said.

It was not the first time that Oxnard officers had responded to domestic dispute calls at the Reyes residence, Senior Officer Tom Chronister said. And although Martin Reyes was never charged with spousal abuse in Ventura County, he was arrested in 1993 after trying to throw his wife over a railing in front of the family’s apartment, Chronister said.

After that incident, Edna Reyes obtained the restraining order claiming that she and her children had been subjected to nine years of verbal and physical abuse. She also said she was afraid her husband might kill her.

Domestic violence experts say that on average, about 700 women kill their husbands, boyfriends, ex-husbands or ex-boyfriends every year.

That is less than half the number of men who annually kill their partners or former partners, said Richard Gellis, director of the Family Violence Research Program at the University of Rhode Island.

“There’s actually quite a bit of difference between the two,” Gellis said. “More than half the women say they kill in self-defense or perceived self-defense, whereas self-defense is not a primary motive for men killing their partners.”

Often overlooked as victims in any such scenario are the children, who witness the months or years of abuse that lead up to violent confrontations, Gellis said.