Judge to Let Suspect Sell Items to Fund Defense

A Ventura County judge loosened the purse strings on murder defendant Socorro “Cora” Caro’s assets Wednesday, allowing her to sell $190,000 worth of property, jewels and an antique doll collection to pay for her defense.

But Judge John R. Smiley refused to let Caro, accused of fatally shooting three of her children in November, tap a wealthy family estate to pay legal bills expected to top half a million dollars.

The ruling, which capped a contentious hearing in family court, marks the first step in what is expected to be a long and messy divorce case. The request for money has infuriated Caro’s husband, who has filed divorce papers and a wrongful-death lawsuit against his 38-year-old wife.

In a sworn declaration last week, Dr. Xavier Caro called her money demands “obscene and outrageous.”

“Having brutally murdered three of my children, she is seeking to dissipate the assets available to the one child whom she failed to kill, and the father who is left to care for him,” the doctor wrote.

“She is seeking the immediate release of more assets than she would be conceivably entitled to,” he wrote, “. . . to say nothing of the fact that any purported ‘entitlement’ will be more than offset by my wrongful-death claim, to which she has no viable defense.”

Xavier Caro, a prominent Northridge physician, stated in court papers that he is nearly immobilized by the pain of losing his three sons, ages 5, 8 and 11.

Although he is living in a hotel room with his surviving 16-month-old son, Gabriel, the doctor wants to move into a Granada Hills home he purchased before his marriage and is trying to evict his in-laws, who have lived there more than two years, his lawyer said.

The 52-year-old doctor returned home from work Nov. 22 to find his children dead from gunshot wounds.

Xavier Caro told authorities that he found his wife of 13 years lying in the master bedroom with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Last month, she was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation that makes her eligible for the death penalty. She has no job and no income.

But she does not qualify for a public defender because of the mutual wealth shared with her husband. The couple own a five-bedroom ridge-top home in the Santa Rosa Valley near Camarillo valued at $900,000, as well as riverfront property valued at about $180,000 in Stanislaus County.

Those properties are among the assets Cora Caro’s lawyers are going after to help pay her legal costs in the murder case. But Smiley denied a request to immediately divide up the community property, telling her attorney that he needs to provide more specific information about what portion of the estate she is entitled to.

The judge also denied requests to award Cora spousal support and attorney’s fees. But he did agree to cut loose about $190,000 tied to her personal property and possessions, saying she is entitled to money to fulfill her contractual agreement with her criminal defense attorney.

She and her mother own three parcels of land near Modesto valued at about $180,000, her attorney Rand Pinsky said. Cora’s share of the property is about $90,000, although Xavier Caro has made some payments of an undetermined amount that would have to be repaid, the judge said. Cora’s jewelry, dolls and an antique piano given to her by her parents were estimated to be worth about $100,000.

“I am fairly certain,” the judge said, “the husband has no interest in keeping that stuff.”