CHANDLER — A high school teacher involved in a love triangle that left one of her students dead and a former student charged with murder is claiming victim status in the case, a designation that would grant her special treatment and inside information on the prosecution.
Tamara Hofmann, 48, is considered a witness in the second-degree murder trial of Sixto Balbuena, 20, but as a victim she would be exempt from pretrial interviews by his defense attorney and privy to plea negotiations, rights granted under the Arizona Constitution.
Hofmann also would be allowed to sit inside the courtroom during the entirety of Balbuena's trial, whereas witnesses aren't allowed inside until they testify.
Hofmann's attorney, Chris DuPont, wrote in a motion that even though she is not named as a victim in the indictment against Balbuena, he roughed her up during the fight that left Samuel Valdivia, 18, dead from a stab wound.
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"The defendant admitted to police that he struck Ms. Hofmann and held her down during the charged incident, the alleged homicide occurred in Ms. Hofmann's home," DuPont wrote.
The Arizona Constitution's Victim's Bill of Rights defines a victim as "a person against whom the criminal offense has been committed," or the spouse, child or parent of someone who was killed.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office would not comment on the matter.
According to court documents and police records, Hofmann taught math at El Dorado High School in Chandler, where Valdivia was a senior and on the baseball team.
Hofmann used to teach at Marcos de Niza High School, where she met Balbuena and began having a sexual relationship with him. Balbuena told Chandler police they were engaged.
Hofmann called Valdivia late on April 9 and invited him to her Chandler home.
Balbuena was on liberty from the Navy when he arrived at the home at about 2:30 a.m. on April 10 to find Hofmann nude and Valdivia in his boxer shorts.
Hofmann resigned from Marcos de Niza in 2007 after she and Balbuena, then a minor, were found together in a parked car in the middle of the night and Balbuena had her bra in his pocket, a police report said.
She was never criminally charged in that incident.
Even though the State Board of Education, which issues teaching certificates, was investigating her for that incident, the agency never indicated the investigation in a statewide database schools can use when hiring teachers.
That opened the door for her to be hired at El Dorado.
