LUCERNE — After her trial ended with the jury hung 11-1 in favor of guilt earlier this year, a Lucerne woman was sentenced Monday to four years in jail for stabbing her boyfriend in 2005.
Sylvia Pulido, 23, plead guilty to a charge of domestic violence battery on a co-habitant, and admitted to using a deadly weapon. She also originally faced a special allegation that she inflicted great bodily injury on her boyfriend, 27-year-old Antonio Avelos, also of Lucerne.
Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones said the two lived together off-and-on, and had three children together, the youngest of which is a seven-month-old baby.
The trial took as long as it did because of numerous setbacks, said Krones, including the anticipated arrival of Pulido”s and Avelos” third child together last October, now seven months old.
Going over the history, Krones related that Pulido and Avelo were at a friend”s house doing laundry on December 12 of 2005 when they got into an argument and Avelo apparently pushed Pulido. The fight moved to the kitchen, where it was later discovered that Pulido pulled a three-inch steak knife out of a butcher”s block and stabbed Avelo twice in the chest, also slashing his face.
When law enforcement responded to the friend”s 911 call, Pulido told deputies Avelo had been stabbed by an unknown male when Avelo had stepped outside to stop a loud argument between the man and his girlfriend. Krones went on to say that when a deputy found the bloody knife in the kitchen and obtained a statement from Pulido”s friend, Pulido admitted she had stabbed her boyfriend.
At the scene, Pudilo originally told deputies Avelo had hit her, then changed her story and said he”d pushed her and that she”d stabbed him because he was tired of him arguing with her.
Krones said no bruises or marks were found on Pudillo”s body.
Pudilo later reportedly told deputies that during her relationship with Avelo, the two had argued, but the fights had never been physical. Krones noted that the two were both roughly 5”2″, and weighed about 120 pounds.
Pudilo”s trial began March 27 of this year and ended on April 4 with a hung jury. Krones said the D.A.”s intention to retry her became unnecessary when she plead to the domestic violence and deadly weapon charges.
Pudilo was sentenced to four years in jail Monday. The special allegation of causing great bodily injury that was dropped in the plea bargain could have upped her sentence to 10 years, said Krones.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
