SAN FRANCISCO — A San Pablo resident who fatally shot his wife in front of their 4-year-old son lost his appeal and bid for a new trial this week, court records show.
Jose Claudio Munoz, 30, argued in his 2018 trial that while he killed his wife, Yvonne Hernandez, he should be found guilty of manslaughter, not murder. On appeal, he argued that the prosecutor had misled jurors about the proper legal definition of manslaughter, which can apply in cases where the killer is in an extreme emotional state.
Among Munoz’s arguments was that deputy district attorney Rachel Piersig shouldn’t have told jurors that an example of manslaughter would be a mother attacking someone who ran over her kid. The appeals court, though, ruled that the remark had not “inflamed the jury’s passions.”
“Defendant does not dispute the example constituted voluntary manslaughter, but argues the example presented an extreme situation,” the appeals court judges wrote. “He cites no authority for the proposition that only ambiguous examples of voluntary manslaughter may be presented. … There is no reasonable possibility the jury construed or applied the prosecutor’s example in an objectionable manner.”
Munoz shot and killed Hernandez inside their San Pablo home in September 2015, believing that she was unfaithful to him. Their 4-year-old boy witnessed the shooting and can be heard in the 9-1-1 call Munoz made shortly after, in which he admitted to the killing.
“You killed mommy,” the boy told him.
Munoz was also convicted of felony child abuse. He is serving a life sentence at California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, Corcoran, but will be eligible for a parole hearing in 2039, according to state records.
