Mexican Woman Kills 4 Family Members

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Woman Sentenced For Murders Of Uncle, Three Cousins
April 21, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- A 20-year-old woman convicted of helping her boyfriend
murder her uncle and his three children was sentenced to four life
prison terms without the possibility of parole Wednesday.
Monica Diaz was convicted Feb. 3 of first-degree murder for the stabbing
deaths of her uncle, Richard Flores, 42, and his children, Richard Jr.,
17; Sylvia Jr., 13, and Matthew, 10, at their Pico Rivera home. The
family had taken Diaz in when she was a child.
Diaz also was convicted of attempted murder for an attack on her aunt,
Sylvia Flores, who survived.
She was ineligible for the death penalty because she was 16 at the time
of the July 21, 2000, slayings.
Diaz's boyfriend, Michael Naranjo, pleaded guilty last Sept. 30 to the
murders as jury selection in his trial was set to get under way. He was
sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and was
called to the stand during Diaz's trial.
Superior Court Judge John Torribio also sentenced Diaz to 15 years to
life for the attempted murder of her aunt, who addressed the defendant
during her sentencing hearing.
"I want you to think about what my days are like, what I go through
every day, not having you, the kids or your dad in my life," Flores
said. "Because of you, I almost lost everything."
Deputy District Attorney Kevin McCormick said it was "amazing" that Diaz
showed no emotion and sat "stone-faced" during the hearing.
Torribio denied a defense motion for new trial and said no other
sentence was appropriate except the "absolute maximum."
Outside court, defense attorney Louis Sepe told reporters, "basically, I
believe the judge made quite a few errors of the law, and that we'll
prevail on appeal."
"Monica Diaz didn't kill anyone," he added. "Monica Diaz was under the
influence of Naranjo and her motivation was to keep her family
together."
During her trial, Diaz testified in her own defense, telling the Norwalk
jury that she and her then 17-year-old boyfriend agreed to stage a fake
robbery at the home in an effort to draw her family closer because she
believed her aunt and uncle were having marital problems.
She denied any role in killing her uncle and her three cousins, but
acknowledged cutting duct tape for Naranjo so her family could be tied
up.
Diaz, who spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, acknowledged to jurors that
she had written her boyfriend a series of letters on the topic of
killings and serial killers before her family was murdered.
In one letter -- she said it was "just words" -- she wrote that "the
best job is to kill people professionally." She also acknowledged
writing another letter in which she said the Columbine high school
massacre "kicked ass."
"I don't remember what I was thinking at the time," she told jurors.
She also acknowledged writing Naranjo letters about the movie "Natural
Born Killers," including one in which she writes about "killers having
no imagination," while adding that it's "still fun to read about how
they brought terror into other people's lives."
Under questioning by one of her own lawyers, Diaz said the letters about
"Natural Born Killers" were fantasy. She said she had also written about
Peter Pan and living on a deserted island.
After the jury's verdict, Sylvia Flores said, "In my heart, I always
knew she was guilty, but I fought it. First, so I could heal, but now
the realization is that I have to accept what she did."