Agua Caliente tribal member found guilty of voluntary manslaughter

A Palm Springs woman was convicted of manslaughter todayfor stabbing her 40-year-old handyman in what her attorney described as an actof self-defense.

Candace Rochelle Duran, 24, was originally charged with murder for theSept. 23, 2007, stabbing of Howard Villanueva at Duran’s home in the 29000block of Biskra Road, but jurors convicted her of the reduced charge insteadafter about a week of deliberationsand found true a sentence-enhancing allegation of useof a deadly weapon.

Sentencing is tentatively set for June 14, to be preceded by a May 10hearing on Duran’s other pending cases.

Deputy District Attorney Jon Brandon told the jury in his closingargument that the evidence — including blood on the walls and signs of acleanup — showed Duran intended to kill Villanueva.

The way blood was spattered on the bathroom, archway and dining roomwalls showed the victim “was attacked from the beginning” and quickly lostblood and consciousness when arteries in his neck were severed, Brandon said.

“These are not stab wounds placed by someone trying to get away. Theseare placed by someone trying to kill him,” Brandon said.

Villanueva was stabbed 12 times and suffered one five-inch wound thatshowed a knife blade and part of the handle were buried in his neck, theprosecutor said.

“At what point is the danger gone? … How many stab wounds arenecessary to keep a man from raping you?” Brandon said, referring to Duran’sclaim that Villanueva attacked her.

Duran took a shower and started cleaning up instead of calling for help,and she had no defensive wounds, further showing her guilt, Brandon said. Hesaid Duran changed what she told investigators, and “not one of the storiesshe gave is consistent or reconcilable with the physical evidence.”

“This is not the case of a poor girl assaulted by a man in her home.This is a woman who deliberately attacked Howard Villanueva and finished thejob,” Brandon alleged.

Defense attorney Dean Benjamini said Duran was shaking and crying whenher cousin arrived shortly after the stabbing. She told her cousin, a 911dispatcher and police officers who showed up a short time later that Villanuevahad attacked her, he said.

At the police station, not knowing she was being recorded, she told hercousin that Villanueva “suddenly grabbed me … I turned around and he had aknife, and that’s when it got scary.”

Benjamini also said Duran told an officer the attack was sexual.

“When you look at the consistency, look at the demeanor, look at thecrying and the shaking at the scene, it paints a pretty consistent picture ofwhat happened in that house,” Benjamini said in his closing argument.

He said Villanueva was moving forward and Duran was going backwardduring the struggle.

“He’s coming at her, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no two ways aboutit,” the defense attorney said.

He said most of the 12 stab wounds were shallow slashes. Duran showed awillingness to stay at the scene and cooperate; she jumped in the shower not toget rid of evidence but because “that’s human nature,” he said.

Benjamini contended that Duran had no motive to kill Villanueva.

“It doesn’t fit with the physical evidence, it doesn’t fit withanything she said and it certainly doesn’t fit with anything you know,” hesaid.

He said Villanueva had set fire to a house, beaten one former girlfriendand raped and threatened another. He also had a “nearly toxic” level ofmethamphetamine in his system that day, Benjamini said.

“She’s in there by herself when this guy comes at her, with his intentvery clear … she had no choice what to do but fight for her life, and she didwhat she had to do,” he said.