Man Sentenced to 14 Years for Killing Ex-Wife’s Lover

A 31-year-old man who shot and killed his ex-wife’s boyfriend and then convinced jurors the shooting was the unintended result of a suicide plan was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison.

At the end of an emotionally taxing, 2 1/2-hour hearing, Superior Court Judge Shari Kreisler Silver imposed the maximum possible sentence for involuntary manslaughter on Baudilio Perez, 31, whom she described as a violent man still fixated on his former wife.

“I believe he is absolutely a danger to society, specifically to anyone who gets involved with Angela Perez,” Silver said.

John Thompson’s relatives said they were grateful to Silver, but said they have no doubt that the slaying was intentional and are upset that Perez will spend less than a lifetime in prison.

“It’s been tough, not only to deal with his death but also this miscarriage of justice,” said Tom Thompson, the victim’s brother. “I think the court did its job. The rest of the justice system didn’t do its job, but it’s too late for that.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacqueline Lacey said the verdict was the product of jurors voting with their emotions rather than weighing the evidence from the March 1997 shooting.

Baudilio Perez fatally shot John Thompson, 33, a sheriff’s deputy, in the victim’s Santa Clarita home in front of Angela Perez.

Perez testified that he had intended to have his former wife watch him kill himself and did not expect Thompson to be present. He said he and the victim struggled over the gun, which Perez said accidentally fired four times, killing Thompson and hitting Perez in the hand.

The jurors believed Perez. They acquitted him of murder, convicting him instead of involuntary manslaughter with the special allegation of use of a gun.