Woman May Join Death Row Spouse

A Chula Vista woman probably will join her husband on death row for submerging their nearly 4-year-old niece in a bathtub of water so hot it peeled the skin from her body.

The same jury that two weeks ago convicted Veronica Gonzales, 28, of murder recommended Wednesday that she be executed for the death of Genny Rojas.

“Oh, God, no!” Gonzales exclaimed when the verdict was read. She then covered her face with her hands and began sobbing. She was later taken out of the courtroom in a wheelchair.

Gonzales’ husband, Ivan, is already on death row for the girl’s murder. The couple would be the first in California to face execution for the same crime.

Sentencing was set for July 20. San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Wellington can set aside the jury’s decision and sentence Gonzales to life without parole.

However, when Ivan Gonzales was sentenced earlier this year, Wellington said the case was the most heinous he had experienced in his 26 years as an attorney and judge.

During her six-week trial, Veronica Gonzales testified that her husband was to blame for the murder, saying she suffered from battered woman’s syndrome.

Genny died in July 1995, six months after she was sent to live with the Gonzaleses and their six children. Her mother was in drug rehabilitation and her father was in jail for child molestation.