Reyes Sentenced to 6 Years for Killing Husband

Calling it one of the most difficult sentencing decisions he has ever made, Superior Court Judge Vincent O’Neill sentenced Edna Reyes to six years in prison Wednesday for shooting her estranged and abusive husband in Oxnard nearly two months ago.

The judge said he gave strong consideration to her lack of prior criminal record, her statements of remorse and regret, and that she is suffering from battered women’s syndrome.

But the fact that she shot her husband with her own .45-caliber revolver in front of two police officers when there was no appearance of imminent danger was also a strong factor in his decision, he added.

“If I felt that something I could do in passing this sentence would stop the type of behavior that Ms. Reyes has been subjected to from occurring, I would do that,” said O’Neill, a former prosecutor who has served on the bench for four years. “But I don’t have that power.”

Although prosecutors had asked for a mid-term sentence of 16 years for the mother of four, Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox said she was satisfied with O’Neill’s decision.

“The judge handed down what I think is a fair sentence,” Fox said. “Overall, I think it is appropriate.”

Court officials said Reyes could serve about 85% of her sentence. An illegal alien, she faces deportation when she is released from prison.

Defense attorney Jean Farley, who had argued that Reyes should receive probation, said she was depressed and saddened by the decision, but that her client was taking it well.

“She feels it is the will of God,” said Farley, who has previously described Reyes as a deeply religious person.

Adding that she felt that the judge made his decision in a “judicious and dignified” manner, Farley said she nonetheless will ask Gov. Pete Wilson for a pardon for Reyes, whose children are ages 3 to 11.

Advocates for battered women who attended both days of the sentencing hearing were less restrained in criticizing the outcome.

“It’s unjust,” said Maria Mercedes Garcia of the Farm Worker Women’s Leadership Program, an advocacy group for farmworker women. “The only ones that are going to suffer are the children. They should have given her the opportunity to be with her children. Now they don’t have a father or a mother.”

Reyes, 29, was originally charged with murder in the shooting of her husband, but the charge was reduced after considering the history of abuse she had endured throughout their 12-year marriage, according to prosecutors.

She was arrested July 5 after shooting her husband, Martin Reyes, twice in the chest in front of two Oxnard police officers and her 11-year-old son after a domestic disturbance call. Martin Reyes had a long history of physically abusing both her and their children.

On Wednesday, Fox described the series of events that occurred prior to the shooting.

Edna Reyes and her father had purchased two guns before the shooting, Fox said. The first was a .38-caliber revolver, but it failed to work while she and her father were trying it out during target practice at a field in Oxnard.

So they went to a friend and purchased an 1917 Army .45-caliber revolver for protection, Fox said.

Fox also said Edna Reyes and her husband had not fought the night he died. She said when Edna Reyes went into her house to pack her belongings, she also loaded her revolver with cartridges and asked herself, “Do I do this now or do I go to a shelter?”

“Mrs. Reyes killed her husband because she was tired,” Fox said. “She was sick of him. She was doing better without him.”

Fox said that there were no signs of “serious injuries” to Edna Reyes in any of the medical and police reports and that Edna Reyes knew how to use the system to her advantage.

“She didn’t somehow slip through the cracks of the system,” she said. “She failed herself. . . . She had so many alternatives even at that moment. . . . There comes a point when we have to draw the line between victimization and personal responsibility.”

But Farley said her client was terrified of her husband, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18% the night he died, more than two times the legal limit. Because of the abuse allegations, Edna Reyes also feared that her children would be taken away by the Department of Children’s Services if her husband continued to live with them, the attorney said.

Tammy Bruce, president of the Women’s Progress Alliance, a nonprofit women’s advocacy group, said Edna Reyes was an example of a woman who believed that there was no other way out.

“Murder is not a solution to the violence,” said Bruce, who attended both days of the hearing. “Women do that only when they are pushed to the breaking point.”