The trial of a Tucson man accused of beating to death his girlfriend with a crowbar ended Tuesday in a mistrial, as jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Arnold Mills Granillo was accused of second-degree murder for killing his longtime girlfriend Kimberly Tsonetokoy in September 2012.
“It’s a crime and it’s a serious crime — but it’s not second-degree murder,” defense attorney Joel Feinman told jurors Friday in his closing statements.
Feinman told the jury his client didn’t intentionally kill Tsonetokoy, 45, the night he beat her on the head, face and body with the steel crowbar. Rather, Feinman said Granillo acted in a passionate rage at learning Tsonetokoy planned to leave him.
Feinman played a police interview video of Granillo taken the night he killed his girlfriend. In the video Granillo, 49, wails and cries uncontrollably in a police interview room after detectives informed him Tsonetokoy died from her injuries.
People are also reading…
Feinman said the video showed the remorse Granillo felt then and still feels today for killing the woman he had lived with for nearly a decade.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Lewis Brandes said Granillo’s remorse could not excuse his violent actions.
“You’ve got to forget your sympathy and find him guilty of second-degree murder,” Brandes said. The only explanation that could excuse Granillo’s actions would be if he had accidentally struck Tsonetokoy multiple times with the crowbar, he said.
Brandes swung the crowbar and then dropped it to the floor with a loud clang to demonstrate how the defendant had to make an effort to get the crowbar and repeatedly strike Tsonetokoy.“Who cares if he’s remorseful,” he said.
After more than two days of deliberation the jury notified Pima County Superior Court Judge Javier Chon-Lopez that they could not come to a unanimous decision.
A status conference to determine where the case goes next has been set for Jan. 13.
