Deputy District Legal professional Ilana Shapiro ended her rebuttal argument Thursday in Solano County Superior Courtroom by telling jurors that Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla and Marco Antonio Quintanilla had “a huge incentive” to dispute the info of the case involving an Oct. 2021 killing of a 19-year-old Carmel lady.
Shapiro additionally mentioned Jessica Quintanilla “orchestrated the coverup” of her alleged deadly capturing of Leilani Beauchamp in a Fairfield residence.
Her statements, coming in response to last arguments by San Francisco attorneys William Alan Welch and Laurie D. Savill, introduced the five-week trial to its shut shortly earlier than 4 p.m. within the Justice Heart in Fairfield.
Choose William J. Pendergast, who presided over the trial, then learn last jury directions and ordered the 12-member panel to return Friday morning to start deliberations.
Marco Antonio Quintanilla, 30, of Pittsburg, appeared in Division 11 of Solano County Superior Courtroom throughout his November 2021 arraignment in connection to the dying of Leilani Beauchamp, 19, of Carmel.(Joel Rosenbaum / Reporter File Photograph)
Jessica Quintanilla, 24, of Pittsburg, allegedly shot and killed Beauchamp on the morning of Oct. 30 in a Cascade Lane residence whereas she was mendacity in mattress with Juan Parra-Peralta, with whom Quintanilla as soon as had a romantic relationship. Marco Quintanilla, 30, additionally of Pittsburg, is charged with being an adjunct after the very fact and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
On the outset of her last statements, Shapiro asserted that the protection attorneys launched “pieces of evidence and tried to explain them away.”
Acknowledging the fractious on-again, off-again nature of Parra-Peralta and Jessica Quintanilla’s relationship, she described Quintanilla as “the more aggressive” of the 2, noting Quintanilla as soon as known as Beauchamp “a bitch” and “punked her out of a car” at a Sacramento sideshow that Parra-Peralta and Beauchamp attended collectively on a date earlier in October 2021.
Standing just some ft from the jury field, Shapiro, composed and talking in an even-toned voice, informed jurors {that a} semi-automatic handgun Jessica Quintanilla owned, a Glock 19, was the homicide weapon. She disputed {that a} semi-automatic handgun owned by Parra-Peralta, a Glock 17, was the homicide weapon, as Welch, Quintanilla’s legal professional, contended.
In a key a part of her rebuttal, Shapiro, utilizing a hand gesture for example she was armed, recalled Jessica Quintanilla’s testimony that she had confronted Parra-Peralta, who, she mentioned, was pointing his gun at her on the morning of Oct. 30 in his second-floor bed room. Jessica Quintanilla mentioned she grabbed his arm, pushing it towards and flat in opposition to the headboard, when the gun discharged, a single bullet putting Beauchamp (pronounced “BEECH-um” through the trial) within the head.
However Shapiro added, if that have been true, the bullet would have entered the left aspect of Beauchamp’s head, when, as forensic pathologist Arnold Josselson testified final month, the bullet entered and exited on the fitting aspect of her head.
The character of the bullet wound “is consistent” with testimony provided on the trial’s outset, mentioned Shapiro.
Moreover, difficult Welch’s assertion that Parra-Peralta, a former airman stationed at close by Travis Air Power Base, and his shut pal and fellow airman Damien Ponders, she mentioned “were not scared” in a base dormitory through the early hours of Oct. 31, after the killing.
“Why was he afraid?” Shapiro requested rhetorically about Parra-Peralta’s conduct. “He saw Jessica shoot someone in the head.”
Additionally, Marco Quintanilla, after Parra-Peralta and Jessica Quintanilla returned to Pittsburg from Monterey County, the place Parra-Peralta dumped Beauchamp’s physique down a roadway hillside in rural Salinas, threatened Parra-Peralta whereas the 2 sat in a car, saying, “If she goes down, you’re going down.”
Of Savill’s “momentary possession argument” for Marco Quintanilla, who obtained Parra-Peralta’s handgun whereas within the car, Shapiro mentioned transient possession of handgun by a beforehand convicted felon doesn’t invalidate the cost.
Additionally, Marco Quintanilla’s effort to assist his sister by threatening Parra-Peralta “is a violation of the law.”
As court docket information present, Parra-Peralta , 23, and Ponders, 25, have been finally discharged from the Air Power below less-than-honorable situations however have been granted immunity from prosecution in trade for his or her testimony.
To Welch’s argument that Parra-Peralta and Ponders had a motive to lie as a result of they confronted dismissal from the Air Power, Shapiro requested, “Why are they cooperating now? Because they’re telling the truth.”
Additionally, Parra-Peralta, the prosecution’s first witness, testified final month that, after the capturing, Quintanilla threatened him together with her handgun and continued to take action for many of Oct. 30 and into Oct. 31.
If convicted, Jessica Quintanilla, the mom of two kids, ages 7 and 4, and a former assisted-living facility worker in Walnut Creek, faces 25 years to life in jail and maybe extra time for utilizing a firearm.
If convicted of the felony allegations, Marco Quintanilla, who after his arrest in 2021 posted bail and was launched, might withstand three years in jail, relying on the circumstances of the case, He might serve extra time for being a beforehand convicted felon for tried homicide in 2013 in Contra Costa County and violation of his parole.
Jurors start deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Division 11 within the Justice Heart in Fairfield.
Initially Printed: November 18, 2024 at 8:07 AM PST
