After three days of emotional testimony in front of heartbroken family members, Perla Caroline Morales was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison and probation for life for killing her two children in 2012.
Although the court appreciates Morales’ difficulties in life and her faltering mental health, it could not conclude that the killing of the two children were the result of a psychotic episode, Pima County Superior Court Judge Jane Eikleberry said at the sentencing hearing.
On Aug. 11, 2012, Morales, then 25, shot and killed her 4-year-old daughter, Emma Rosovich and 17-months-old son, Richard Rosovich Jr., before slicing her own wrists and neck.
She shot Emma three times at close range while Richard Jr. danced to a show on television in their home near West Valencia Road and Interstate 19. She tried to shoot herself afterward, according to court documents, but the gun was jammed. She then grabbed a knife after allegedly hearing voices inside her head.
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Richard Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene. Emma was taken to a hospital, where she died.
The shootings are said to have happened after she and her boyfriend, Richard Rosovich Sr., had an argument when Rosovich threatened to leave her.
Morales was also in the middle of a custody battle with her ex-boyfriend and biological father of Emma, Javier Mejia Jr., at the time. Court documents indicated that Morales tried to get an order of protection issued against Mejia Jr., in the fear that he would take her child away, but the request was denied in court.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Victoria Otto argued that Morales knew exactly what she was doing when she killed her children, saying that she disagrees with the defense’s assessment of the severity of Morales’ mental illness.
“She knows what she’s done,” Otto said. “She’s now trying to minimize her responsibility.”
Otto asked for a maximum, consecutive sentence for each count of second degree murder and judge to consider the fear, pain and trauma the children must have suffered from having their lives taken away by their own mother.
“This is about justice for Emma and Richie,” she said.
Dawn Priestman, the defense attorney representing Morales, argued that Morales has had a long history of mental illness and trying to get help for her physical and mental conditions. Morales had endured abuse from her stepfather, mother and boyfriends, she said.
“All the people in her life that were supposed to protect her did not,” she said.
Priestman asked the court to consider the fact that Morales was a compliant, law-abiding citizen with no prior history of criminal records that family adored and trusted. Morales was distressed and in fear, while already having to live with vulnerabilities from past abuse, she added.
“The impairment is obvious,” she said.
Morales spoke to the courtroom, where families and friends were present. She broke out in tears and apologized for causing pain and suffering to everyone who was affected.
“I honestly still do not understand why I killed my kids,” she said. “I think about my kids every day. I love them. I’m always going to love them.”
Prosecutors originally sought death penalty for Morales. She pleaded guilty to second degree murder earlier this year.
