Woman Convicted of Hiring Man to Kill Lover’s Wife

A Los Angeles jury convicted a Glendale woman of attempted murder Friday for hiring a hit man to kill her boyfriend’s wife.

Prosecutors charged that Rosa Maldonado, 39, paid Roberto Felix $4,000 to shoot Olga Olguin in hopes that she could have the victim’s husband, Alejandro Olguin, to herself. Felix is also on trial, but the jury is still deliberating.

On Nov. 4, 1999, Olga Olguin was shot in the back of the head while walking on Manitou Avenue in Lincoln Heights. She survived. The couple remain together.

Maldonado and Felix were tried in the same courtroom before different juries for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. Maldonado was found guilty on all three counts Friday.

During the joint trial, prosecutors painted a picture of Maldonado as a manipulative woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

“This is a woman who wants what she wants and she’s going to get it any way she can, even if it means she has to kill,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee Urman said during closing arguments.

Maldonado was in love with Alejandro Olguin and lavished gifts and money upon him, Urman said.

But it wasn’t enough, the prosecutor said. He intended to stay with his wife, which drove Maldonado to attempt to get rid of her competition.

“There was a time when defendant Maldonado told Mr. Olguin, ‘You’re going to fall at my feet,’ ” Urman said. “He said he never planned to leave his wife. Defendant Maldonado knew that. Maybe it was the challenge. Some of us women like the challenge.”

After the shooting, Maldonado admitted to police some involvement in the crimes, defense attorney Frank Adler said.

She told them she had paid Felix, but only to scare Olga Olguin rather than hurt her, he said.

Adler said he plans to file an appeal based on the judge’s allowing jurors to hear evidence that should have been inadmissible.

“The tape-recorded statements made to the police we believe were induced by offers of leniency and should not have been released to the jury,” he said.

Maldonado is due to be sentenced March 28.

She faces life with the possibility of parole on the attempted murder charge, 25 years to life for conspiracy to commit murder and nine years for the solicitation.