A Tucson mother of six was sentenced to 21 years in prison Monday for repeatedly stabbing a pregnant woman and the woman's 13-year-old daughter.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Jane Eikleberry sentenced Yesenia Sosa Hernandez, 31, after listening to details of the May 25 brutal attack from both victims.
Julia Rodriguez, 34, told Eikleberry through a Spanish-speaking interpreter she met Hernandez a few days before the attack at an obstetrian’s office and Hernandez, who was also pregnant, offered to give her clothes and furniture for her unborn son.
On the morning of May 25, Hernandez came to her home, Rodriguez said.
She was helping her 2-year-old daughter in the bathroom when she heard her 13-year-old daughter, Genesis, begin screaming, Rodriguez said. When she walked out, she saw Hernandez stabbing her daughter.
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When she ran to help her daughter, Hernandez stabbed her repeatedly about the face and head, Rodriguez said. She forced Hernandez to drop the knife, but Hernandez grabbed another knife after first trying to strangle her.
Throughout the attack, Hernandez kept screaming “I’m going to kill you guys and no one is going to help you!” Rodriguez said.
She began biting Hernandez’s knife hand while maneuvering her away from the front door, Rodriguez said.
When Hernandez got far enough away from the door, Rodriguez said she screamed for her daughter to run and get help and then she ran out the door too.
When she got outside, she fell down a flight of stairs, but then got up and ran for help as well.
Because of the trauma of the attack and the fall, Rodriguez said she almost lost her unborn child.
Genesis Compean told the judge she was listening to music and playing a game on her iPod when Hernandez suddenly attacked her.
When she began screaming, Hernandez told her to shut up or she’d kill her mom, the girl tearfully said.
The teenager suffered knife wounds to her arm, face and finger. Her cornea and the sclera of her right eye were, respectively, scratched and torn.
Rodriguez suffered lengthy cuts to her left cheek and scalp.
“I want justice because she hurt us physically and mentally, my whole family,” Rodriguez said.
She and her daughters are receiving psychiatric help because of the trauma of the incident, Rodriguez said. Her 2-year-old is terrified of strangers and Genesis suffers from nightmares.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Dan Nicolini told the judge Hernandez deserves “every bit” of the maximum 22-year sentence she was facing.
Hernandez told Eikleberry “no words can express the remorse, regret and shame” she feels. She pleaded with the judge to remember that when she sentences her, she is also sentencing her children.
Hernandez told a probation officer that on the day of the incident she had been arguing with her boyfriend via text messages and she “snapped” when Rodriguez asked her what was wrong. She took her anger out on the wrong people, she said.
Assistant Pima County Public Defender Michael Mussman asked for a mitigated sentence because Hernandez had a difficult upbringing, isn’t likely to re-offend, has no felony criminal history and was a home health care provider. He also noted she has plenty of family support.
A doctor who evaluated Hernandez said she has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of past violent relationships she’s had, Mussman said.
The doctor said Hernandez experienced the “flight or fight response” on the morning of the incident and took it out on the wrong people, Mussman said.
Eikleberry imposed an aggravated sentence, noting the number of victims involved and the extreme physical and emotional harm they suffered.
While Rodriguez’s unborn baby survived the incident, Hernandez miscarried at five months in the Pima County jail.
