BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (TCD) — A jury recently found a 31-year-old man guilty of killing his grandmother in 2023 after an argument about cigarettes.
Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer announced that Juan Valdez was convicted on Feb. 6 of the second-degree murder of his 70-year-old grandmother, Maria Valdez, with an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon.
Juan Valdez is scheduled to be sentenced March 7 and faces up to 15 years to life in prison with an additional year for the enhancement.
According to prosecutors, on July 13, 2023, shortly before 12 a.m., Juan Valdez called law enforcement and said he stabbed his grandmother. Juan Valdez had reportedly lived with his grandmother since he was 3 years old.
Officers with the Bakersfield Department responded to the home in the 500 block of Flower Street, where Juan Valdez was standing outside. The district attorney’s office said police took Juan Valdez into custody, at which time, he admitted to stabbing the victim again and said she was in the living room.
Upon further investigation, prosecutors determined Juan Valdez “stabbed his grandmother, who was sleeping on the couch, after arguing over purchasing cigarettes.”
The district attorney’s office noted, “The force of the stabbing penetrated her skull resulting in terminal brain damage.”
Maria Valdez was transported to Kern Medical Center and died from her injuries nine days later.
Juan Valdez reportedly told investigators he intended to harm but not kill his grandmother because he wanted to escape her fiduciary control over him, KGET-TV reports.
At the time of his grandmother’s death, the defendant was unemployed and received disability benefits for anxiety, nervousness, and insomnia, according to the news source.
Juan Valdez’s grandmother reportedly controlled his finances, which made him upset.
KGET reports that during the trial, Deputy Public Defender Julius Cruz told jurors Juan Valdez’s mental health struggles led to the fatal stabbing, and he reportedly heard voices.
Zimmer said in a statement, “Elderly members of our community are often vulnerable targets and must be protected. This heinous act of domestic violence will not go unpunished.”
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