Colon, Perez get life sentences in slaying of 3-year-old Crystal Figueroa
A jury Friday spared the life of the man accused of beating to death his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter and then dumping her in a trash bin. Instead, the jury sentenced Marc Anthony Colon to spend the rest of his life behind bars for the 2006 slaying of Crystal Figueroa, also known as Jane "Cordova" Doe.
His co-defendant and the girl's mother, Gladys Perez, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
As the verdict was being read, family members of the defendants ran out of the courtroom sobbing. Their cries in the courthouse hallway could be heard inside the courtroom.
Colon sat in a chair and slumped forward until his head rested on the defense table. Perez, who was emotional and wept throughout much of the trial, bowed her head but remained silent.
The jury could have sentenced Colon to death. Jurors declined to do so, determining that Crystal's killing wasn't premeditated. Perez could have been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Relatives of Colon and Perez, who attended much of the three week trial, declined to comment after the jury returned with the sentence. But Christopher Oram, one of Colon's attorneys, said Colon's mother was obviously pleased that her son won't be executed.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lalli, who has worked on the case for more than 2 1/2 years, said he was satisfied with the punishment delivered by the jury.
"I'm so happy with the verdict," Lalli said. "Crystal's death had a real impact on our community. And I think today the community gave her something back in this verdict and this punishment."
The jury Wednesday convicted Colon and Perez of first-degree murder. It also convicted Colon of child abuse.
Perez was convicted of child abuse but was also found guilty of child neglect because Crystal was in the beginning stages of malnutrition at the time of her death.
District Judge Michelle Leavitt is scheduled to sentence the couple on the remaining counts on Dec. 12.
Few murders in Las Vegas captured the community's attention like Crystal's.
Her battered body was found discarded in a trash bin at the Villa Cordova Apartments on Eastern Avenue near Sahara Avenue. She had bruises over much of her body, fractured ribs and injuries to her internal organs. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to her torso.
At the time, her identity and who killed her wasn't known. Authorities called her Jane "Cordova" Doe for weeks while they searched nationwide for information about her and her killers. Tips poured in, some from Canada and Mexico.
Six weeks after she was found, authorities announced that they discovered Crystal's true identity and arrested Colon and Perez. Authorities broke the case after Crystal's grandmother reported that she believed the girl may have been killed.
Authorities said Colon delivered the fatal blows that killed Crystal. He killed her because she caused "too much drama" in their lives, Chief Deputy District Attorney Pam Weckerly said during the trial.
Perez was accused of sitting by while Colon killed Crystal and helping him cover up the crime. Her attorneys, however, said Colon had beaten her into submission until she was like a "whipped dog." Unlike Colon, she had no prior criminal record.
Oram said sparing Colon the death penalty wouldn't mean he was getting a break. He said Colon will likely be picked on in prison and will live a very hard life.
Defense attorneys also tried to soften the image of Colon by showing video recorded testimony of his two young daughters pleading for their father's life.
Prosecutors said Colon has a long history of beating women and children going back more than a decade. When he was 17, he regularly beat his then-girlfriend, Lalli said. At 21, he choked his 14-year-old sister and struck so hard he ruptured her eardrum, he said.
Colon was in and out of jail and was a fugitive on parole from California when he killed Crystal.
"Mercy -- he did not give it but now he wants it," Lalli said.
