Orlando Woman, Isabel Garcia, Who Hammered Ex-Boyfriend To Death Receives 30 Years In Prison
An Orlando woman and Mexican immigrant, Isabel Garcia, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2013 death of her ex-boyfriend, Carlos Vidal, who she bludgeoned to death with a hammer.
Garcia claims that the attack on her boyfriend with a hammer was self-defense. While in court, she stated that during a heated argument, things quickly escalated and her ex-boyfriend came at her with a hammer, which started a physical altercation. Once the two were tussling on the floor, she was able to take the hammer.
The Orlando woman repeatedly beat Vidal with the hammer on the back of the head until it was concaved. Once she realized he wasn’t dead, she took a knife and slit his throat.
Woman said ex-boyfriend abused her, forced her into prostitution before she was sentenced for his murder http://t.co/CXlTAsByIr
— Elyssa Cherney (@ElyssaCherney) April 10, 2015
Afterwards, she disrobed him and dumped his body near International Drive.
Upon her arrest, she told investigators that he was controlling and once she came to America, he forced her into prostitution to support the family.
However, when gruesome pictures showed Vidal’s smashed in head, jurors were taken back and felt no pity for the suspect. State Attorney Mark Interlicchio remembers how shocked the jurors were and recalls their gasps.
“I can even recall jurors gasping when they saw the back of his head bashed in with a hammer. She also took a knife to his throat to finish the job,” he said.
Despite her claim, 12 jurors found the mother of two boys – Shamir, 11, and Arbin, 8, who are now in the custody of Garcia’s brother Victor Casas – guilty of second-degree murder on February 18.
During Garcia’s sentencing, she pleaded to the judge for leniency because she didn’t want to be out of her children’s lives. With a court translator by her side, she stated as follows.
“Once again I ask for the opportunity to be with my children and to start a new life. I apologize to everyone who has taken time being involved in my case. I know that if I would have spoken the truth from the beginning none of this would have taken place.”
Circuit Court Judge Renee A. Roche wasn’t at all moved by her plea as she couldn’t comprehend how the attack could have been self-defense.
“Certainly the victim was a bully in this case and certainly he had in the history of their relationship committed acts of domestic violence, but the court, given the whole scope of the evidence in this case, cannot accept as proven the version of events which is offered by the defense.”
Roche sentenced Garcia to 30 years in prison, and she will be deported back to her country.
[Image courtesy of Dustin Guffkke/Flcikr]
