|
 Ana Trujillo, 45, was convicted on Tuesday of killing University
of Houston professor Stefan Andersson, 59, who had been stabbed
about two dozen times in the face and head during an altercation at
his upscale condominium.
"I didn't mean to kill him," Trujillo told Judge Brock Thomas after
hearing the sentence. She had said she acted in self-defense when
she hit Andersson.
Jurors took less than two hours to convict Trujillo of murder and
the same jury deliberated for several hours on Friday before
deciding that she should serve life in prison.
Sandra Guerra Thompson, director of the Criminal Justice Institute
at the University of Houston Law Center said the life sentence was a
rarity for a woman in Texas.
"Women who commit violent homicides are a very small percentage of
the criminal justice system and the statutory maximum comes down
significantly if it's found to be a crime of passion," Thompson
said.
Jurors were asked to determine whether or not Trujillo had acted
with passion in the killing last June. Had they determined that
Trujillo's actions were ignited by passion, she could have received
no more than 20 years in prison.
During the main part of the trial, several witnesses testified that
Trujillo was prone to unprovoked violence when drinking.
"I have problems expressing myself," Trujillo told jurors after
taking the stand in the penalty phase of the trial.
[to top of second column] |
In more than six hours of testimony, Trujillo cried and said
Andersson had a shoe fetish and a bumper sticker that said "I Love
Stilettos."
Trujillo is allowed to appeal. The sentence will remain unchanged,
however, unless the conviction is overturned.
A native of Sweden, Andersson taught at the university's Center for
Nuclear Receptor and Cell Signaling, specializing in women's
reproductive health, the school said.
(Reporting by Amanda Orr; writing by David Bailey;
editing by
Cynthia Johnston and Grant McCool)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
