Miguel Espino (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation).
A California man who fought with his dad regularly and had a history of uncontrolled outbursts tried to kill him with a hammer and rock before setting his home on fire with the father still inside. He then went to prison and took his anger out on a wheelchair-bound inmate, stabbing him 42 times.
Miguel Espino, 33, was convicted last week of premeditated murder after using an “inmate-manufactured weapon” to take the life of Michael Spengler, 38, who was a killer himself, according to the Monterey County District Attorney”s Office.
“The crime involved a high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness,” the DA’s office said Monday in a press release announcing Espino’s conviction.
“On Aug. 19, 2024, Espino stabbed a wheelchair bound inmate forty-two times on a recreational yard at Salinas Valley State Prison,” the DA’s office recounted. “Espino has three prior convictions for attempted murder, mayhem, and arson from Riverside County in 2024, which qualify as ‘strike’ offenses within the meaning of California’s Three Strikes Law.”
Espino, who is from Desert Hot Springs, was found guilty of attempted murder in 2023 after he used a hammer and rock to try to kill his own father, Arturo Espino, in 2018. He set his dad’s mobile home ablaze after the attack as he lay unconscious on the floor.
During his trial, prosecutors said neighbors saw and heard Espino unleash his rage on his father on several occasions. One alleged incident that was witnessed involved Espino pinning his father’s arms behind his back while he dragged him across a roadway in the mobile home park where the dad lived.
Espino and his dad argued constantly, per neighbors, until things finally boiled over on the afternoon of Aug. 7, 2018, when Espino used a hammer and rock to beat his father. He grabbed a pile of clothes after the attack and used flammable liquids to set them and his dad’s mobile home on fire.
Neighbors saw the blaze and rushed inside to save Arturo Espino.
Espino, who had no prior felony convictions, tried denying that he attacked his dad. But jail phone records and transcripts of conversations he had with his mom showed that he confessed to the attempted killing.
Espino now faces up to life in prison to be served consecutively with his seven years to life sentence for trying to kill his father as a result of the Spengler stabbing. Spengler was serving a life sentence for two murders he committed in Los Angeles County.
“Both murders appear to have been surprise ambushes of the defendant’s friends,” Superior Court Judge Henry J. Hall said when he sentenced Spengler to life without the possibility of parole, the Los Angeles Times and City News Service reported. “They appear to be largely senseless.”
Just like Espino, Spengler was also convicted based on comments and a confession he made during jailhouse phone calls. Espino’s sentencing date has not been made public yet.
