El Monte Man Convicted of Strangling His Wife

An El Monte man was convicted Monday of first-degree murder for strangling his wife while on probation for spousal abuse last summer.

A Pomona Superior Court jury took little more than two hours to decide the fate of Mario Martinez Venegas. He faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Venegas, 36, killed Yvonne Celia Gutierrez, 34, at the couple’s Lexington Avenue home on June 28, just three months after he was placed on probation for misdemeanor battery against her, prosecutors said.

Deputy Dist Atty. Margaret Moe said Venegas choked his wife to death, then stabbed himself once in the midsection and called relatives to summon an ambulance. When the relatives arrived and tried to revive his wife, Venegas grabbed her by the throat again, Moe said.

Moe told jurors that Venegas was involved with another woman and had confessed to police that he strangled his wife.

Kent Thomas, Venegas’ attorney, argued that the crime was manslaughter, because his client had became enraged after discovering his wife was having a relationship with his cousin. Thomas told jurors that Venegas tried to revive his wife and was so distraught afterward that he tried to kill himself.

Moe said Gutierrez, who was planning to divorce her husband, only stayed in their home because she was caring for her three nephews.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 23.