Woman Offered Plea Deal in Husband’s Slaying

Showing leniency toward a battered woman, Ventura County prosecutors have offered to reduce a murder charge to manslaughter if the Oxnard woman will plead guilty to the shooting death of her estranged husband, The Times has learned.

Edna Reyes, 31, is accused of pulling a handgun and shooting Martin Reyes in front of two Oxnard police officers who had responded to a domestic dispute call at her apartment earlier this month.

“She has to accept some responsibility for her actions at an early stage,” a source in the district attorney’s office said Monday. For the offer to stand, Reyes must enter a guilty plea to manslaughter with the use of a handgun before today’s preliminary hearing on a second-degree murder charge.

“She has suffered some abuse at [her husband’s] hands and was in fear for her life,” the source said.

Prosecutors and Reyes’ attorney have discussed a reduction in the murder charge for two weeks, and an official offer was made by Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s office Monday. Her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jean Farley, would not comment on any new developments.

The case has drawn the attention of battered-women’s advocates throughout Southern California, because of Martin Reyes’ history of abuse before his death July 6. Police records show that in 1989 he served time in an Oakland jail for beating his wife and that she also accused him of abusing one of their children.

In Oxnard, Edna Reyes had a restraining order against her husband, which unbeknownst to her, had expired shortly before he showed up at her home the night he was shot.

Neighbors called police about a loud argument at the apartment, and two officers were talking to Martin Reyes when the shooting occurred. Police say Edna Reyes was leaving the apartment with her four children when she pulled a gun from her handbag and fired two shots into her husband’s chest.

Shortly after the shooting, Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said Reyes had “coldbloodedly” killed her husband--a remark that enraged defense attorneys and battered-women’s advocates.

On Monday, advocates applauded the offer from the district attorney’s office.

“This is great in the sense of the direction of how battered women’s syndrome should be assimilated into the reality of this case,” said Tammy Bruce, who heads a Los Angeles-based group co-founded by Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister.

Bruce, Denise Brown and other members of the Women’s Progress Alliance will meet today with a top prosecutor to discuss the case. “We are looking forward to talking to them in detail about how they look at domestic violence.”

Bruce noted that the meeting with Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Janes will focus on the issue of battered women’s syndrome. Several women from the alliance, including Bruce and Denise Brown, said they plan to attend the court hearing, as well as the meeting today.

In addition, about 50 people gathered for a candlelight vigil, organized by the Farmworker Women’s Leadership Project, Monday night in front of the courthouse in support of Edna Reyes.

Staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.