Cobb Man Who Stabbed Wife, Set Fires Sentenced

A Marietta man who admitted to stabbing his wife and later setting his car and an adjacent house on fire late in 2013 has been sentenced for his crimes, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Juan F. Espinal, 57, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday morning following his admissions in court. Although Espinal said he was driven to stab his wife because of an affair she was flaunting, Espinal’s wife said she had been faithful.

Cobb County ADA Theresa Schiefer shamed Espinal for attempting to pin the blame for his actions on the victim of his crime, the DA’s Office said.

Evidence shows that Espinal stabbed his wife at least six times on the morning of Dec. 20, 2013, then fled his Winterset Parkway apartment in his car. He parked his car outside a home on Brookhaven Drive and set it on fire; the fire spread to the home and caused significant damage, the DA’s Office said.

Espinal was later found beneath a bridge on Interstate 575, injured after a presumed suicide attempt.

Espinal’s daughter, who had to break down the door to her mother’s bedroom, later found a note in the apartment which showed that Espinal had been planning the attack for some time.

At Friday’s sentencing hearing Cobb Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster noted that Espinal, a Dominican national and permanent resident of the United States, would likely be deported after he served his time.