P. v. Aceves-Cortez CA5
Appellant/defendant Jorge Luis Aceves-Cortez (defendant) was convicted of murdering his wife, Maria, and sentenced to 15 years to life. Defendant had a history of committing prior acts of domestic violence against her, including prior beatings to her head in the year before her death.
It was undisputed that Maria died from subarachnoid hemorrhaging in her brain. Her children, the only witnesses to the incident, testified defendant either slapped or punched her in the face immediately before she collapsed.
Defendant’s trial involved a clash of opinions between the prosecution and defense experts about why the brain hemorrhaging occurred – whether the massive bleeding was the result of defendant’s infliction of blunt force trauma to her head, or she died as the result of an unrelated and coincidental rupture of a previously undiagnosed brain aneurysm.
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