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An appellate panel Thursday upheld the murder conviction of a woman who stabbed her estranged husband more than 30 times and killed the family’s dog in a separate attack at their home in Walnut.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the trial of Socorro Mora, who was found guilty of second-degree murder and corporal injury to a spouse for the Oct. 19, 2011, stabbing death of her 47-year-old estranged husband.
She was also convicted of cruelty to an animal involving the family’s dog, Snowflake, found dead from puncture wounds in a flower bed in their backyard in September 2011.
George Mora had obtained a restraining order that required his estranged wife to move from the family’s home, the appellate court panel noted in its 11-page ruling.
Socorro Mora — who called 911 to report a domestic disturbance after stabbing her spouse — was found with about 20 stab wounds in the front yard outside the home.
She said during the 911 call that she had stabbed her husband after he attacked her, but a crime scene reconstruction expert opined that many of the woman’s injuries were consistent with self-inflicted wounds or wounds inflicted by accident.
“The trial court properly refused to instruct regarding voluntary manslaughter because there is insufficient evidence that George provoked Socorro to act from a heat of passion,” the justices found.
“Circumstantial evidence of Socorro’s mental state implies that her actions were deliberate and calculated; she breached the French doors leading to the backyard, stabbed George 31 times, including after his death, staged the kitchen to make it appear that a fight had occurred, and then stabbed herself either accidentally or intentionally after George’s death. The position of the serrated knife on the back of George’s wrist suggests that Socorro planted it in that position.”
The appellate court panel added that “the evidence suggests that George endured Socorro’s relentless telephone calls and physical attacks in order to protect his children and provide them with a stable parent,” noting that there was no evidence to back up her suspicion that he was involved in a relationship with a woman with whom he had worked.
Mora was sentenced in September 2014 to 20 years and eight months to life in state prison.
–City News Service
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