Woman convicted of beating boyfriend to death with hammer, California prosecutors say
A 55-year-old Porterville woman was convicted of beating her boyfriend to death with a hammer, Tulare County prosecutors said Wednesday.
Rosa Baca was convicted Monday in Tulare County Superior Court for the Dec. 17, 2018, fatal beating of 38-year-old Jose Magana, her boyfriend of about 16 months, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said.
The jury convicted Baca of first-degree murder with a special circumstance that she inflicted torture and a special allegation that she used a deadly weapon.
Baca initially told investigators the couple had an argument in a trailer in the 200 block of Indiana Street and Magana left the night before without a shirt or shoes, returning with injuries around 8:30 a.m. on the day of the killing.
Prosecutors said Magana’s feet were not dirty despite Baca’s story that he had left the trailer and walked outside during a rainy night. There were also no signs of struggle.
Baca also claimed to have not left the trailer that night, prosecutors said, but her car was warm to the touch.
Surveillance video also showed her get out of her car at another location to throw something in a Dumpster. Investigators said it was clothing.
Her sentencing hearing is July 31. She faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
