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Mary Samuels Women On Death Row

This is a weird case. Mary Samuels is currently on California death row for the murder of her husband and the man she hired to kill him. According to court documents Samuels wanted to collect on her husband’s life insurance policy so she hired someone to kill him. Then Samuels was worried the hitman would connect her to the crime so she hired someone else to kill him. Then Samuels collected on the life insurance and managed to go through the majority of it before she was arrested for murder. Mary Samuels would be convicted and sentenced to death

Mary Samuels 2021 Information

Inmate Name	SAMUELS, MARY ELLEN
CDCR Number	W54370
Age	72
Admission Date	09/22/1994
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Mary Samuels Other News

Defendant was married to Robert Samuels. On October 31, 1986,

Mary Samuels filed for divorce. Even after the divorce proceedings were initiated,

Mary Samuels and Robert Samuels were cordial, and defendant continued to work in

the Subway restaurant she and Robert Samuels owned. However, by November

1988, just before his murder, Robert Samuels was depressed and had a less than

friendly relationship with defendant.

On October 31, 1988—approximately two months before he was killed—

Robert Samuels went to his divorce attorney, Elizabeth Kaufman, and signed a

document seeking changes to his divorce agreement. Robert Samuels wanted to

run the Subway restaurant because he was unemployed and felt he would be better

at running the business. He also wanted to reduce spousal support payments

below the $1,200 per month level because he was no longer able to pay that

amount. The modification was never filed because Kaufman was waiting for

Robert Samuels to complete a portion of the paperwork.

1. The Solicitation and Murder of Robert Samuels

Beginning in 1987, Mary Samuels solicited people to murder Robert Samuels

on numerous occasions.

Anne Hambly, defendant’s friend, testified defendant told her that after

several attempts to find someone to kill Robert Samuels had failed, defendant was

able to get James Bernstein to agree to commit the murder. Bernstein was dating

Mary Samuels’s daughter, Nicole Samuels. Bernstein was apparently angered when

defendant told him that Robert Samuels had abused Nicole. A month before

Robert Samuels was murdered, Bernstein said he wanted Samuels “taken care of

permanently” because he was a child molester and batterer. He asked his

employer, Charles Mandel, if he knew anyone who could “take care of it.”

Mandel provided Bernstein with the phone number of Mike Silva. Also, during

November and December 1988, Bernstein asked a friend who owned a gun shop if

he could get some weapons.

On December 7, 1988, Mary Samuels told Anne Hambly that Robert Samuels

was dead and that she planned to “discover” his body in two days. On

December 8, 1988, Nicole Samuels called her friend, David Navarro, and said “it’s

done” in reference to Robert Samuels’s murder.

On December 9, 1988, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call

from Robert Samuels’s home. Robert Samuels was found dead. He had been

dead for over 12 hours and was killed by a shotgun blast fired into his head from

close range. Samuels also suffered a blunt force trauma to his head that was a

contributing factor to his death.

Mary Samuels and Nicole Samuels were present when the police arrived.

Mary Samuels and Nicole worked to make it appear that there had been a struggle in

the house. Defendant told the police she discovered Robert Samuels’s body while

dropping off the family’s dog. Defendant sought to bolster this story by leaving

messages on Samuels’s answering machine regarding her plans to drop off the

dog.

Anne Hambly testified that she also went to Robert Samuels’s house the

night he was found dead. Referring to the murder of Robert Samuels, defendant

told Hambly that she could not believe that “it had finally happened” and that she

had given Bernstein money six months earlier to arrange the killing. Mary Samuels

feared being caught and was also afraid to speak because she thought the police

had “bugged” her car, purse, and home.

At trial, the prosecution introduced evidence showing defendant collected

on several insurance policies after Robert Samuels’s death. The total amount of

these policies was in excess of $240,000. In addition, the prosecution introduced

evidence that a sandwich shop owned by Robert Samuels and defendant was sold

in early 1989, and Mary Samuels kept the proceeds of approximately $70,000.

Additional evidence introduced by the prosecution showing how defendant

benefited from Robert Samuels’s death included: (1) defendant kept a car owned

by Robert Samuels; (2) she received approximately $6,000 in uncashed payroll

checks of Robert Samuels; and (3) she refinanced the family home after Robert

Samuels’s death, thereby gaining possession of an additional $160,000.

Mary Samuels began to live a lavish lifestyle after Robert Samuels died. In

addition, defendant made several incriminating statements after his death. For

example, when asked by Anne Hambly who Mike Silva was, defendant told

Hambly that Silva was hired by Bernstein to kill Robert Samuels. Mary Samuels also

told a friend, Marsha Hutchinson, that if she were not careful in her divorce

proceedings, then Hutchinson’s husband might decide to put a hit on her.

Mary Samuels also spoke and acted in a manner that led Bernstein’s older brother and

sister-in-law to believe that defendant had Robert Samuels killed.

James Bernstein also made incriminating statements after Robert Samuels’s

death. He told his employer, Charles Mandel, that Robert Samuels’s murder had

been taken care of and that he received money from defendant to pay Silva for his

part in the crime.

2. The Solicitation and Murder of James Bernstein

On June 27, 1989, James Bernstein was killed. The circumstances leading

to his murder are as follows: David Navarro and James Bernstein met in February

1989. Navarro testified he met Bernstein through Nicole Samuels, who was a

friend of Navarro’s girlfriend.

Navarro and Bernstein became friends and they sold drugs together until

Bernstein disappeared in June 1989. Bernstein and Navarro were together when

Bernstein received a page, called the number he had been sent, and then went to

meet Mike Silva. Bernstein referred to Silva as the “hit man.”

Navarro made an anonymous call to the police and provided them with the

phone number Bernstein received via the page and Mike Silva’s name. Navarro

also provided the names of Mary Samuels and Bernstein to the police. Los Angeles

Police Officer John Birrer received Navarro’s call on May 1, 1989. After Navarro

provided this information, the police served search warrants. Police searched

Bernstein’s apartment on May 16, 1989, in connection with the murder of Robert

Samuels. The police also searched the victim’s house.

In late May or early June 1989, Bernstein told a friend, Rennie Goldberg,

he was feeling remorseful and frightened of being caught. He wanted to confess

his involvement in Robert Samuels’s murder. By June 1989, Bernstein had

become so afraid that he wanted to move out of the area. By the end of June 1989,

Bernstein was ready to go to the police and admit what he knew. He told Navarro

that he and Mike Silva had killed Robert Samuels and that defendant had paid

them for it. He repeatedly said that Mary Samuels had solicited him to murder Robert

Samuels. Bernstein stated that Mary Samuels wanted Robert Samuels killed for

insurance money, and that one person had been paid but did not do the job so she

approached Bernstein to see if he would do it. On June 26, 1989, Bernstein told

his older brother that he was frightened and that he was the only person who could

“burn Mary Ellen.”

After Robert Samuels’s murder, defendant told Anne Hambly that she

wanted Bernstein killed because she thought he would go to the police and

disclose her involvement in the murder. In March or April of 1989, Anne Hambly

introduced Paul Gaul to defendant. Gaul was Hambly’s live-in boyfriend.

Hambly believed Gaul could help Mary Samuels with her trouble with Bernstein.

Defendant and Gaul had several conversations about Robert Samuels’s death. In

the first conversation, Mary Samuels mentioned she received insurance money from

Robert Samuels’s death and that Bernstein was blackmailing her for her

involvement in the murder. In the second conversation, defendant repeated the

substance of the first conversation and added that she wanted Robert Samuels

killed because he had abused Nicole and she wanted insurance money. During a

third conversation, defendant mentioned a failed attempt to kill Robert Samuels.

Mary Samuels also said that she had paid for Robert Samuels’s murder, but that the

murder was done sloppily and that she had not expected it to be done in her house

with blood everywhere.

Even in their first conversation, Gaul came to believe that defendant wanted

his help in killing Bernstein. Gaul testified that it was not until a later

conversation that Mary Samuels expressly asked Gaul for help. She told Gaul that she

wanted Bernstein killed because he was blackmailing her. She also told Gaul that

Bernstein was selling drugs to children.1 Defendant told Gaul that she would pay

for Bernstein to be killed. Mary Samuels spoke with Gaul five to 10 times about

killing Bernstein, discussing payment two to four times.

Prior to Bernstein’s murder, defendant called Gaul. She told Gaul that she

was taking a trip to Cancun and wanted Bernstein murdered before she returned.

Mary Samuels agreed to pay Gaul $5,000 for killing Bernstein. Another form of

payment was that defendant would forgive a loan made to Anne Hambly. To

assist him in killing Bernstein, Gaul solicited Darryl Ray Edwards. Edwards

agreed to kill Bernstein for $5,000.

Gaul testified that his brother had been killed by drug dealers and that he

had been angered by it.

In June 1989, at defendant’s request, Bernstein moved in with Anne

Hambly and Paul Gaul. When he moved out of his apartment, Bernstein told his

apartment manager that he was moving out of town to avoid the police. Bernstein

moved in with Hambly and Gaul because he was afraid the police were closing in

on him.

On June 27, 1989, Paul Gaul and Darryl Ray Edwards killed James

Bernstein. On that morning, Gaul met Edwards at a bar and they started drinking.

Their plan to murder Bernstein involved getting Bernstein to go up to an area near

Frazier Park. Gaul and Edwards planned to tell Bernstein that Edwards knew

some drug dealers in Frazier Park and that Gaul, Edwards, and Bernstein would go

and rob them.

The two men separated, planning to meet at Anne Hambly’s later that day.

Gaul returned to Hambly’s house around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. Edwards arrived

approximately two hours later. Bernstein was at Hambly’s house. Gaul, Edwards,

and Bernstein talked about going to rip off drug dealers. Although he did not

initially agree to the plan, Bernstein was curious and wanted more information.

Subsequently, Gaul, Edwards, and Bernstein left Hambly’s house in defendant’s

car. Gaul was the driver. After approximately 40 minutes, they ended up on an

isolated dirt road. However, it turned out to be a private driveway and several

dogs came running at the car. Edwards told Gaul to immediately get out of the

driveway, so Gaul placed the car in reverse and drove away. About five to 10

minutes later, Edwards yelled “Now” or something similar. Gaul slammed on the

car’s brakes, put the car in park, and turned off the headlights. Edwards grabbed

Bernstein’s neck from behind and began to choke him. Bernstein began to

scream, but Gaul twice hit him in the side of the head or neck to keep him quiet.

Gaul accidentally hit Edwards, which loosened Edwards’s grip on Bernstein.

Bernstein opened the car door and jumped out. Edwards and Gaul got out of the

car and chased after Bernstein. Edwards caught Bernstein and wrestled him to the

ground. Gaul held Bernstein’s legs, while Edwards choked him. Bernstein asked,

“Why?,” and Gaul said that it was because he talked too much. Gaul stopped

holding Bernstein’s legs and joined in with Edwards. Bernstein struggled for three

to five minutes, then stopped. Gaul put his ear to Bernstein’s chest to listen for a

heartbeat, but did not hear one. An autopsy on Bernstein confirmed that he had

been strangled to death.

Gaul and Edwards placed Bernstein’s body in the backseat of the car.

Edwards drove to a dark and isolated area. During the drive to this area, Gaul took

off Bernstein’s belt, which had the name “James” on it, and threw it over a cliff.

Gaul also threw Bernstein’s pager over an embankment.

When Edwards stopped the car, he and Gaul pulled Bernstein’s body out of

the backseat and put it over an embankment. Gaul and Edwards then drove back

to Anne Hambly’s house. Upon returning to Hambly’s house, Gaul, Edwards, and

Hambly discussed what had happened. Gaul and Edwards told Hambly that they

had killed Bernstein.

Anne Hambly made a phone call to defendant, who was in Cancun,

Mexico, at the time, and let her know that Bernstein was dead. Hambly did so by

using a “code” that she and defendant had agreed to. The code involved Hambly’s

calling Mary Samuels to say that Hambly had spoken to her sister. This statement was

a signal to Mary Samuels that Bernstein was dead and that it was safe for defendant to

return from Mexico.

Frequently Asked Questions

Mary Samuels Photos

Mary Samuels FAQ

Mary Samuels 2021

Mary Samuels is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Mary Samuels on Death Row

Mary Samuels was convicted of a double murder.

Catherine Thompson Women On Death Row

Catherine Thompson is on death row in California for arranging the murder of her husband. Again the main incentive was money so Catherine Thompson hired someone to kill her husband at the transmission shop that he owned. At first police believed it was a robbery gone bad but her behavior following the murder made the boys in blue suspicious. Catherine Thompson had a friend collect all of her husbands jewelry following the funeral which she quickly pawned and used the money to gamble in Las Vegas. Thompson would also quickly collect the two insurance polices her husband had. In the end Catherine Thompson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Catherine Thompson 2019 Information

Inmate Name	THOMPSON, CATHERINE
CDCR Number	W48876
Age	71
Admission Date	06/18/1993
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Catherine Thompson Other News

The California Supreme Court Thursday upheld Catherine Thompson’s conviction and death sentence for arranging her husband’s murder inside a West Los Angeles-area auto repair shop he owned.

The state’s highest court unanimously rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the Los Angeles Superior Court trial of former West Hills resident Catherine Thompson, who is on death row for the June 14, 1990 killing of Melvin “Tom” Thompson in the restroom of his business.

The 49-year-old man, who had been shot, died later at a hospital.

Shortly after the murder, Catherine Thompson submitted a claim on two life insurance policies — one issued for $100,000 and a second one issued the year of the murder for $150,000 that had a clause that made it potentially worth $300,000, the Supreme Court wrote in a 111-page ruling.

Catherine Thompson instructed a friend to collect all of the jewelry from her husband’s body after the funeral and to return the items to her, which she pawned a day later and used the money to go on a gambling vacation to Laughlin, according to the ruling.

Catherine Thompson was convicted in September 1992 of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder, with jurors finding true the special circumstance of murder for financial gain and recommending that she be sentenced to death.

Co-defendant Phillip Sanders, who was tried along with Catherine Thompson, was also convicted of the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The justices rejected the defense’s contention that Catherine Thompson should have been tried separately from Sanders.

In the ruling written by Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar, the panel found there was a “web of evidence demonstrating that defendant participated in a conspiracy” with Sanders and two others to kill the victim for financial gain, including “defendant’s many refinancing and insurance frauds,” the evidence of many telephone calls between her and Sanders in the days leading up to the murder and her “blurted-out statement upon her arrest that she `didn’t know Phil at all”‘ though police had not yet revealed any evidence of Sanders’ involvement in the crime.

The justices also noted that Catherine Thompson had a “strong financial incentive to kill the victim” and quickly used the insurance money after he was killed.

The panel found that the trial court “did not abuse its discretion in concluding that evidence of defendant’s prior financial misdeeds was relevant to showing her motive for killing, and conspiring to kill, her husband in order to collect on his life insurance policies.”

The justices wrote that jurors could infer from the evidence that “defendant’s financial house of cards was about to collapse, leading her to believe she had one last option to make a large financial score: killing her husband.”

Catherine Thompson — who was sentenced to death in 1993 — is among 21 women awaiting execution in California.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-court-death-sentence-20161130-story.html

Frequently Asked Questions

Catherine Thompson Photos

Catherine Thompson FAQ

Catherine Thompson 2021

Catherine Thompson is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Catherine Thompson On Death Row

Catherine Thompson was convicted of the murder of her husband

Janeen Snyder Women On Death Row

Janeen Snyder may look like the girl next door but do not let her looks fool you as this young woman along with her boyfriend kidnapped sexually assaulted and murdered a teen girl. Janeen Snyder who would also confess to the murder of a another missing teenager would be sentenced to death in California and sent to death row

Janeen Snyder 2021 Information

Inmate Name	SNYDER, JANEEN MARIE
CDCR Number	X20232
Age	40
Admission Date	09/13/2006
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Janeen Snyder Other News

A California couple were charged Thursday with the torture and slaying of a 16-year-old Las Vegas girl, a crime that prosecutors called “eligible for the death penalty.”

Michael Thornton, 45, and Janeen Snyder, 21, both of Rialto, Calif., were charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances in the rape and torture slaying of Western High School student Michelle Curran, who was reported missing earlier this month.

“We believe the facts are sufficient to support that this murder occurred while she was being tortured and raped,” said Michael Rushton, a deputy Riverside County (Calif.) district attorney. “Although a formal decision has not been reached, the special circumstances makes this case eligible for the death penalty.”

Michelle Curran was found dead Sunday, shot in the head and hidden in a horse trailer on a ranch in Rubidoux, a rural area of Riverside County, said Sgt. Mark Lohman, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Thornton and Janeen Snyder have been in the Riverside County jail since April 17 on burglary charges after a property owner came home and saw two people running from her land. Deputies arrested the pair on the property and found a large amount of blood in a stable’s tack room, Lohman said.

Deputies knew a more serious crime than burglary occurred because of the blood, but no victim was found. Police also found Curran’s identification inside the pair’s GMC Suburban.

California authorities ran a computer check on Curran and found that she was listed as missing/runaway from Las Vegas. On Sunday, the property owner found Curran’s body inside the horse trailer, Lohman said.

Curran was last seen April 4 walking to school and was reported missing to Metro Police the next day.

Riverside County and Metro Police are still trying to determine if Curran was a runaway or kidnapped and taken to California. Police don’t know where Curran met Thornton and Janeen Snyder, but all three were seen in a Riverside County park campground.

“People saw them together and there wasn’t anything that alerted them that there was a problem,” Lohman said.

Candy Curran, the victim’s mother, said her daughter wasn’t a runaway. She didn’t leave the house with money or clothing. Curran said she believes her daughter was snatched off the street.

“She didn’t know who they were,” she said. “She threw her ID in their truck because she knew what was going on. Do you think they would keep that in there?”

Metro Police don’t have any indication at this point she was kidnapped, said Sgt. Dan McGrath of the missing persons unit.

“Can I say 100 percent she wasn’t kidnapped? No.” McGrath said. “At any point we determine a crime (kidnapping) was committed here, we will go forward with charges against these suspects.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Janeen Snyder Photos

Janeen Snyder 1 — Janeen Snyder, X-20232

Janeen Snyder 3 — Michael Thornton, F-41306

Janeen Snyder FAQ

Janeen Snyder 2021

Janeen Snyder is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Janeen Snyder On Death Row

Janeen Snyder was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of a teenage girl

Angelina Rodriguez Women On Death Row

Angelina Rodriguez is sitting on death row in California for the murder of her husband. According to court documents Angelina Rodriguez married the victim and within months she realized that it was a mistake. Rodriguez would take out a quarter of a million dollar life insurance and plotted on ways to kill him. Angelina tried a number of methods including poison but finally she killed him by adding antifreeze to his gatoraid. Rodriguez at first got away with it but because the death was ruled unconclusive she could not collect the life insurance so she pushed for more tests and in the end they figured out the truth and she was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband Frank Rodriguez.

Angelina Rodriguz 2021 Information

Inmate Name	RODRIGUEZ, ANGELINA
CDCR Number	X02712
Age	51
Admission Date	01/22/2004
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Angelina Rodriguez Other News

Angelina Rodriguez met her husband Frank, a special education teacher, while working at a camp in San Luis Obispo, California. The couple married in April 2000. It was Angelina’s fourth marriage.^[1] Prosecutors argue that within months of the marriage, Rodriguez took out a $250,000 life insurance policy on Frank and began plotting to kill him. She was suspected of poisoning Frank’s tea with oleander leaves, loosening the gas cap on their clothes dryer, and finally adulterating her husband’s Gatorade with antifreeze. Frank Rodriguez died on September 9, 2000. His death was initially ruled undetermined, but the lack of a cause of death meant that Angelina Rodriguez could not get a death certificate or Frank’s life insurance. She pushed for more testing, and those results showed that he had been intentionally poisoned. Angelina was arrested for murder in Paso Robles, California in February 2001

Angelina Rodriguez More News

The California Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for a former Montebello woman who killed her husband in 2000 by putting anti-freeze in his Gatorade in order to collect his $250,000 life insurance policy.

The high court ruled Thursday that Angelina Rodriguez received a fair trial in 2004. It said if any errors occurred during her trial, they were harmless.

Rodriguez was sentenced to death on Jan. 12, 2004 for poisoning her fourth husband, 41-year-old Jose Francisco “Frank’ Rodriguez, by giving him drinks with oleander and anti-freeze. According to court documents. Rodriguez wanted to collect on a life insurance she had insisted they take out nearly two months before he died. She was the primary beneficiary.

A jury convicted her of first degree murder with the special circumstances of murder by administering poison and murder for financial gain. She was also found guilty of attempting to dissuade a witness.

But jurors deadlocked on a charge of attempting to have the same witness killed by a fellow inmate who was released from custody before the trial began.

Detectives said Rodriguez used oleander extract to sicken her husband, then finished him off with antifreeze while supposedly nursing him back to health.

On Sept. 9, 2000, Montebello police responded to a call at the couple’s home in the 800 block of Marconi Street in Montebello and found Frank Rodriguez lying facedown on a carpet in a bedroom. The officer testified that Rodriguez’s crying “seemed rehearsed or kind of forced.”

Telephone records showed Rodriguez called the insurance company just hours after her husband’s body was removed from the home.

She had tried to kill him before by loosening the connection on a gas dryer in the garage, according to court documents. But Frank Rodriguez smelled the gas and called a repairman.

The couple met in February 2000 while both were working for Angel Gate Academy in San Luis Obispo. They got married in April. Frank Rodriguez later landed a teaching job at Los Angeles Unified and the couple moved to Montebello.

Detectives said shortly after buying the life insurance, Frank Rodriguez began to complain of feeling ill.

Rodriguez told a friend how unhappy she was with her husband. When the friend asked why doesn’t Rodriguez divorce this husband like her other husbands, she was told Frank Rodriguez has a life insurance policy.

The friend and her mother also told Rodriguez a story about a woman who had tried to kill her husband by giving him “oleander tea.”

Prosecutors believe Rodriguez used oleander leaves from a neighbor’s shrub to sicken her husband, but the poison did not kill him. She later heard about antifreeze.

The same friend and her boyfriend mentioned a dog who bit the friend’s son. The boyfriend at one point said they could just soak some hotdogs in antifreeze and throw it over the fence.

When Rodriguez asked why, she was told about the toxic effects of antifreeze and that veterinarians warn people to keep it away from pets because it has a sweet taste.

Investigators said Rodriguez pressured the friend not to testify about their discussions of antifreeze as a poison.

At the penalty phase of her trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Rodriguez killed her 13-month-old daughter in Sept. 18, 1993 in Lompoc.

Alicia Nicole Fuller’s death had been blamed on a defective pacifier when the nipple part of the pacifier was found in her throat.

The prosecution said Rodriguez won more than $200,000 in a settlement after she sued the maker of the pacifier. According to court documents, she insured Alicia’s life for $50,000 two months before the child died. Rodriguez was the primary beneficiary. The insurance company paid her $50,000 plus interest.

Rodriguez wasn’t charged by Santa Barbara County authorities for the death of Alicia. She has also denied killing her daughter.

Twenty of the state’s 747 inmates on death row are women. Executions have been on hold in California since 2006 because of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of California’s death penalty.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-xpm-2014-feb-20-la-me-ln-court-murder-20140220-story.html

Frequently Asked Questions

Angelina Rodriguez Photos

Angelina Rodriguez FAQ

Angelina Rodriguez 2021

Angelina Rodriguez is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Angelina Rodriguez On Death Row

Angelina Rodriguez was currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Sandi Nieves Women On Death Row

Sandi Nieves is on California death row for the murders of her four children. It seemed that Sandi Nieves was mad at her estranged husband and in order to prevent him to get custody of her five children she killed her four children by placing them all in sleeping bags in a room then setting the house on fire. The fifth child was able to escape the burning home suffering smoke inhalation. Sandi Nieves would ultimately be tried for all four murders plus the arson and would be convicted on all counts and would be sentenced to death

Sandi Nieves 2021 Information

Inmate Name	NIEVES, SANDI DAWN
CDCR Number	W87025
Age	55
Admission Date	10/17/2000
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Sandi Nieves Other News

As 16-year-old David Nieves took to the stand, he glanced at the woman he used to look up to.

His mother Sandi Nieves, then 36, was on trial for the most unforgivable crime.

Sandi Nieves was accused of murdering David’s four younger sisters and attempting to kill him

Nikolet, 12, Rashel, 11, Jaqlene, 7, and Kristl, 5, had all died from smoke inhalation during a house fire.

And now their own mother stood accused of starting the blaze deliberately.

But why would Sandi Nieves want her own children dead? And what had pushed her to carry out such a heinous crime?

It was reported that Sandi Nieves was born and raised in a dysfunctional environment.

She was married twice. First to Fernando Nieves, with whom she had David, Nikolet and Rashel.

After a three-year marriage, the couple divorced and Sandi Nieves had custody of their three children.

In the years that followed, Nieves married her second husband, David Folden. It was reported he was also her former stepdad.

He adopted her children, then the couple went on to have Jaqlene and Kristl.

But Sandi Nieves ’ second marriage didn’t last, either.

After splitting from Folden after eight years, she reportedly started dating a much younger man.

But, again, things didn’t work out and he left her.

Around the same time, Nieves was fighting hard to hang onto her kids in an ugly child-support battle with Folden.

That, coupled with the string of failed relationships, made Nieves a bitter and angry woman.

Scorned, she wanted to hurt her exes. And she decided the best way to do that was through their children.

So, in July 1998, Nieves gathered the kids in the kitchen and told them they were having a slumber party.

The kitchen had a TV and video player. The kids had never slept in there before, and found the idea exciting.

They watched films, then nodded off in sleeping bags.

While they slept, Nieves poured gas on the carpets and set them alight.

When the children began waking up gagging from the smoke, Sandi Nieves ordered them to stay where they were.

By the time firefighters responded to a call at the house, the four girls were tucked up in sleeping bags, dead.

Sandi and David were rushed to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation. Both survived.

But poor David was now an only child. And his own twisted mother was to blame.

It seemed she’d killed her children for no other reason than to hurt her exes.

Nieves Found Guilty

Frequently Asked Questions

Sandi Nieves Photos

Sandy Nieves Death Sentenced Overturned

The California Supreme Court on Monday reversed the death penalty for a woman who killed her four young daughters and tried to kill her son by setting their house on fire 23 years ago.

The justices unanimously upheld the first-degree murder, attempted murder and arson convictions of 57-year-old Sandi Dawn Nieves in the deaths of daughters Nikolet Amber Nieves, Rashel Hollie Nieves, Kristl Dawn Folden, and Jaqlene Marie Folden.

But they overturned her death sentence “due to the trial court’s misconduct.”

The judge was frustrated that the defense lawyer kept violating court procedures despite repeated warnings and sanctions, and also openly doubted the credibility of defense witnesses, the justices found.

“Ultimately, the trial judge’s conspicuous disdain for defense counsel and witnesses, and his repeated references to their improper or untrustworthy conduct, lent credence to the prosecution’s argument that defendant was manipulative and deceitful,” Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote.

“These were the very characteristics the prosecution highlighted to justify the death penalty.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt killed himself in 2005 after he was questioned by detectives on an unrelated matter.

Nieves was one of 23 women on California’s death row, and is housed at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. There are 682 men on the nation’s largest death row, though California has not executed anyone since 2006 and Gov. Gavin Newsom has imposed a moratorium.

Nieves called firefighters July 1, 1998, to report her house was on fire. The blaze was out by the time they arrived and they found her sitting in the living room with her 14-year-old son, covered in soot.

Her our daughters, ages 12, 11, 7, and 5 were lying on sleeping bags in the kitchen, all dead of smoke inhalation. Gasoline had been poured and ignited in the hallway and bedrooms, and the oven was open with burned items inside.

Nieves was upset over the end of a relationship and had a stormy past with the fathers of her children, according to the court.

Her son and two oldest daughters were from her first marriage, the two younger girls from her second, and a third man had just broken up with her for the second time after learning she was pregnant. She had threatened suicide and had an abortion a week before the fire.

In a note to her second husband postmarked the day of the fire, she wrote “Now you don’t have to support any of us!” She sent a letter to the third man saying that “I can’t live without you in my life.”

Nieves testified that she didn’t remember sending the letters and “thought she dreamed about holding a lighter and seeing flames” until she realized she had scorched hair on the back of her hand.

Defense experts testified that she had taken a combination of drugs that could cause her to act while she was “basically unconscious,” said one, or in delirium, said another. Prosecution witnesses disputed those conclusions.

“Absent the trial judge’s persistent, disparaging remarks, a juror might have viewed these circumstances with greater sympathy and concluded the crime was a tragedy lacking the moral culpability to warrant death,” Cantil-Sakauye wrote.

“A juror might also have given greater weight to defendant’s remorse and evidence she had been a loving mother to conclude that life in prison, confronted each day with what she had done to her children, was a fitting punishment.”

The justices rejected multiple other defense claims of trial error, including that the jury was not properly selected or screened to consider a death penalty case involving the four young children.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.courttv.com/news/death-penalty-overturned-for-california-mom-who-killed-4/