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Plotter of wrestler’s murder is sentenced

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Times Staff Writer

An Orange woman who talked her then-lover into killing an ex-boyfriend -- a high school wrestling star -- was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison by an Orange County judge.

Veronica Paz, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder in August for her role in luring Diego Armando Gonzalez to a lovers lane above Orange in November 2003. There he was shot to death and his body set afire by her sometime boyfriend, Brandan Dante Perry, then 20.

Gonzalez, 17, was a captain of the wrestling team at El Modena High School in Orange.

Judge James A. Stotler ordered that Paz serve a minimum of 25 years in prison.

According to testimony from the Santa Ana trial, Perry and Gonzalez had exchanged words at a party earlier that year. Gonzalez, a Latino, allegedly hurled racial slurs at Perry, who is black, and the wrestler’s friend pulled out a gun.

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Prosecutors say Paz and Perry then plotted to kill the high school senior, whom they lured to a deserted hilltop on the promise of sex with Paz.

“There were times when she would call and tell me that [Gonzalez] was getting on her nerves, when was I going to kill him?” Perry testified. “I told her I was going to shoot him.”

Paz’s attorney painted Perry as an obsessive, jealous boyfriend who had decided to kill Gonzalez on his own.

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Perry pleaded guilty in March to the murder and agreed to testify against Paz in exchange for a sentence of 25 years to life.

kelly-anne.suarez@latimes.com

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