Arraignment Set for Slain Boys’ Mother

Ventura County prosecutors agreed Monday to delay the arraignment date for murder suspect Socorro “Cora” Caro in the slaying of three of her children until Dec. 17.

Prosecutors expect criminal charges to be filed against the 42-year-old Santa Rosa Valley mother sometime in the next two weeks.

In the meantime, Caro remains held without bail at a Ventura hospital where she is recovering from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

“She is in very grave physical condition at this time,” said defense lawyer Richard Plotin, the Encino attorney who reached an agreement with prosecutors Monday morning on the arraignment date.

Caro was arrested Nov. 30 in her room at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks on suspicion of fatally shooting three of her young sons.

Joseph, 11, Michael, 8, and Christopher, 5, were found in their beds Nov. 22, each with a single gunshot wound to the head. A fourth child, 13-month-old Gabriel, was unharmed.

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Lying in a master bedroom, Cora Caro was found bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband, Dr. Xavier Caro, called police after coming home to the violent scene.

An active churchgoer and volunteer at her children’s elementary school, Cora Caro remains the prime suspect in the shootings and will probably face three charges of first-degree murder.

Asked about her potential defense, Plotin declined to comment on the case Monday, saying he had only recently been retained and had not had time to review the evidence.

“I was contacted by the family attorney,” he said. “I haven’t had an opportunity to investigate. I haven’t seen any reports.”

He also declined to discuss how Caro, who worked as office manager of her husband’s Northridge medical office until earlier this year, may pay for her defense.

“I am not at liberty to comment on the finances except to say she does not qualify for the public defender,” Plotin said.

As for the upcoming arraignment, Plotin said his client will enter a plea as soon as she is physically able. Whether that will be Dec. 17 or a later date will depend on her health, he said.

Plotin has experience in criminal cases in which one family member is accused of killing another.

Last month, the lawyer won an acquittal for a 39-year-old Frazier Park woman accused of beating her husband to death with a baseball bat in November 1996.

Jeanie Adair told police an intruder broke into the couple’s condominium, beat her and tied her up for hours, then killed her husband, Robert, when he came home.

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During the Los Angeles County Superior Court trial, Plotin suggested that a jealous girlfriend who was having an affair with Robert Adair hired an ex-convict to carry out the crime.

Plotin also represented a Palmdale man charged in 1994 with killing his wife. Jeffrey Peitz was tried three times, with each trial ending in a hung jury. Peitz was released when prosecutors declined to file charges a fourth time.