Soto Afraid of Leaving, Sister Says

Despite poverty and a failed marriage, murder defendant Gladis Soto refused to leave her abusive husband and told relatives she couldn’t make it on her own, Soto’s sister testified Friday.

Maria Soto de Leyva told jurors that her slain brother-in-law, Pedro Alba, hurt Soto emotionally and physically during the couple’s 15-year marriage.

Alba, a 35-year-old welder, treated Soto poorly, cheated on her and once broke her leg by ramming her with a car, Soto de Leyva said.

“I didn’t like him,” she testified.

But the sister also told jurors that Soto, a 38-year-old housewife and mother of six, refused to leave Alba despite repeated urgings. Depressed by her situation, Soto felt she could not support herself and five children, the sister said.

“It was always the same,” said Soto de Leyva, who raised the defendant’s oldest daughter, Brisa, and bought her sister a house in Mexico. “I told her to go many times.”

Soto de Leyva, who traveled from Mexico to testify, was the sole witness to take the stand Friday during half a day of testimony in Ventura County Superior Court.

When the jury left the courtroom, the defendant, who has kept her puffy and teary face bowed during most of the trial, looked up and smiled. As she was led to a holding cell, she blew a kiss at her sister. Soto de Leyva cried.

Soto faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted on murder and related charges. She is accused of shooting Alba as he slept Feb. 20 in their Ventura apartment, then dismembering his body with a saw and burning the remains in a dry riverbed.

Soto confessed to the slaying, but her motives remain a question. Prosecutors say she was angry at Alba for having an affair and decided to kill him. Defense attorneys say she was suffering from battered women’s syndrome and lashed out at Alba after he raped her.

Soto de Leyva told jurors Friday she has always been close to her sister. She described Soto as a sad girl who always held her head low.

Soto came to live with her sister in 1980 when she was pregnant with Brisa out of wedlock. Three years later Soto met and married Alba. The sister testified she didn’t like Alba from the start.

In Mexico, she said, the couple lived in a depressing, unfurnished one-room residence behind the house of Alba’s uncle. She said money was tight and hopes looked brighter across the border.

Soto de Leyva testified she eventually helped her sister cross the border from Tijuana to get a job in the United States, where lawyers say Soto eventually gained her citizenship.

Soto planned to meet Alba in Los Angeles and then move to Washington. Instead, they ended up in Ventura County with five children.

Soto de Leyva told jurors she remained in close contact with her sister and often visited. As for Alba, she described him as “horrible” and abusive toward the couple’s youngest daughter.

“He was saying it was not his child,” she said.

Testimony is scheduled to resume Monday.