Caro Maid Says All Seemed Fine

Hours before she allegedly shot three of her young sons to death as they slept, Socorro Caro acted as she normally did--like a loving mom, according to testimony in her murder trial Thursday.

Maria Hernandez, a longtime housekeeper for the Caro family, told the jury there was nothing unusual about the Santa Rosa Valley mother’s behavior on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 1999.

“She was playing with the kids,” the Spanish-speaking Hernandez tearfully said through a court interpreter.

Asked by a defense attorney whether Caro appeared “loving” at the time, Hernandez said: “She was always that way, to me--always.”

Charged with three counts of first-degree murder, Caro has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. As the prosecution wraps up its monthlong case, Caro’s attorneys, who say that their client was framed by her husband, are preparing to present character witnesses to testify about her devotion as a mother.

On Thursday, prosecutors objected to that strategy.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Cheryl Temple contended that whether Caro appeared “loving” has nothing to do with whether she killed three of her four boys. The youngest Caro son, who was then 13 months old, was unharmed.

“Being loving is not a character trait that is the opposite of being able to commit the crimes with which she is charged,” Temple told Superior Court Judge Donald D. Coleman.

She asked the judge to bar defense attorneys from asking witnesses about how loving Caro may have been, arguing that a more appropriate question would be whether she was “nonviolent.”

Indicating he was skeptical about the request, Coleman set a hearing on it for Monday afternoon.

In pretrial motions, prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to admit evidence showing that Caro allegedly had a tendency for violence toward her husband, Xavier. If defense witnesses testify about her “nonviolence,” prosecutors may be able to show jurors evidence rebutting such testimony.

“A ‘loving mother’ does not punch or hit or kick the father of these children in their presence,” Temple said Thursday as she argued her motion outside the presence of the jury.

In other testimony, a Ventura County sheriff’s detective corroborated controversial testimony stemming from a bedside interview with Caro hours after her brain surgery. When the Caro boys were discovered dead in their beds, Caro was found in her bedroom with a near-fatal bullet wound to the head.

Earlier in the trial, Sheriff’s Sgt. Cheryl Wade told jurors that in the hospital Caro asked about the well-being of Gabriel--the son left alive--but not about the other boys. That could be seen by jurors as incriminating, because Caro had not been told which of her sons were dead.

On Thursday, that account was confirmed by Jose Rivera, a sheriff’s detective who was at Caro’s hospital bed along with Wade.

Asked whether she had inquired after any of her children by name, Rivera said: “She asked if Gabriel was OK.”