POMONA, CA — A prosecutor told jurors Thursday that a young man who was in an on-again, off-again relationship with a 17-year-old Azusa High School cheerleader stabbed her six times after a fight in which she accused him of cheating on her, while a defense attorney countered that his client acted impulsively.
Daniel Rodriguez — who was 18 at the time and is now 20 — is charged with murder for the Dec. 20, 2024, killing of Angelina "Angel" Gonzales near his home in the 300 block of Soldano Avenue in Azusa.
He is also charged with using a knife during the commission of the crime.
In her opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Brittany Saleeby told the Pomona jury that Rodriguez picked up the teen after a cheerleading banquet, took her to his house and became upset after she accused him of cheating when she saw scratches on him and asked to see his phone.
The prosecutor said that the defendant tried to hug the woman, punched her twice in the face before she left the home, armed himself with a knife from the kitchen, followed her outside and stabbed her.
"When he stabbed her, he had another choice — to help her — because he heard her saying, `Help me! Help me!"' Saleeby told the panel, noting that Rodriguez instead chose to get the keys to his mother's Hyundai Sonata and flee from the scene instead of helping his on-and-off girlfriend.
Rodriguez told Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives after his arrest the next day that he didn't want the girl to leave and was scared that he was going to get in trouble for hitting her.
The prosecutor said the case was not a "whodunit" because the defendant said that he did it, telling jurors that they will have to decide if the killing qualified as murder or a lesser charge. She said she will ask jurors to convict Rodriguez of murder.
Defense attorney Gary Meastas told jurors that the couple's on-again, off-again relationship "took a dark turn" that night.
"The evidence will prove ... Daniel Rodriguez acted impulsively," he said.
Rodriguez's lawyer acknowledged that his client had stabbed the teen, saying that it occurred in the heat of passion or a sudden quarrel.
The young man was "brutally honest" when he spoke to detectives after his arrest about what had happened that night, he said.
"Find him guilty for what he actually did in this case," Meastas told the jury, saying he would ask them to conclude that Rodriguez is guilty of the "extremely serious charge of voluntary manslaughter."
Jurors heard two 911 calls from neighbors after the stabbing, and saw bodycam video from now-former Alhambra police corporal Andrew Avalos, who repeatedly implored the teen to "stay awake" and "breathe" after unsuccessfully asking her, "Who did this?"
The girl's mother, Leticia Caraballo, called her daughter "amazing" and an "over-achiever" who always loved school, participated in art competitions and cheerleading.
When asked if she knew the defendant, she said, "Unfortunately, yes."
The girl's mother said that Rodriguez had been "very disrespectful to me" and that she believed the two had broken up that summer. She said she hadn't heard her daughter mention him that day and wondered why her phone's location showed it at his house when she had failed to return home that night.
She testified that she was told to go to the Azusa police station, growing emotional as she recounted being informed that her daughter had been in a fight and didn't make it.
Rodriguez has remained behind bars since his arrest. He could face 26 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged.
City News Service
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