Man Gets 26-Year Sentence in Mother’s Stabbing Death

A 21-year-old Baldwin Park man, who stabbed his mother 52 times with a kitchen knife, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and was sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison.

As his trial was about to begin in Pomona Superior Court, Edward Perez entered his guilty plea to one count of first-degree murder, with the special allegation of use of a dangerous weapon. The allegation added a year to the sentence, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Perez was arrested shortly after he called 911 emergency operators on Jan. 20, 1999 to report that he had stabbed 48-year-old Marie Gloria Perez to death. Sheriff’s deputies found Perez standing in bloodied clothing outside the home in the 4200 block of Harlan Avenue in Baldwin Park, Gibbons said. Deputies found his mother in a hallway and the murder weapon near her body, she said.

At Perez’s preliminary hearing, sheriff’s Det. Dianne Harris testified about a taped interview she conducted with him, where he said he felt he had to kill his mother because she had ruined his life, Gibbons said.