Edward A., SWF003559, Acquitted of both first degree murder and second degree murder on November 18, 2004
This is an article about a murder trial that Addison won,
Defense attorneys consider any murder that results in less than life in prison an absolute win
This client was only convicted of manslaughter, he served about ten years and went home
instead of serving the rest of his life in prison
- Charges: Murder (Penal Code § 187(a)), with personal use of a weapon (a knife) (Penal Code § 12022(b)(1)), with two prior terms in prison alleged (Penal Code § 667.5(b)).
- Exposure: Eddie was facing twenty-eight years to life in prison.
- Outcome: Eddie was acquitted of first-degree murder and acquitted of the lesser degree of second-degree murder. He was only convicted of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to fourteen years in prison.
This was case was quite a challenge. Eddie confessed to the killing of the decedent and gave great detail as to how the killing happened in his videotaped confession. He testified that he had been bullied by the defendant and that because of that he brought a kitchen knife with him when the decedent and him went to go buy methamphetamine. He testified that while they were driving to buy drugs he became frightened by the decedent. He grabbed the kitchen knife and stabbed the decedent in the torso. He said in the videotaped confession and on the witness stand, that the decedent asked him, "Why are you killing me Man?" His response was, "you've been killing me for years," stabbed the decedent a second time killing him. The jury agreed with Addison that it was not a first degree murder, nor was it a second degree murder, and that it in fact was a manslaughter. Eddie is home now and has not gotten in any trouble since parole from prison.
This is one of the PowerPoint slides that Addison used for the trial's closing argument

These are Eddie's acquittal verdict forms

This is the press from when Eddie was acquitted of first degree murder and second degree murder



This is Addison and Eddie about ten years after the trial

Here You can follow the press on the case from beginning to end
"When Edward Tony Aguilar stabbed a Winchester man twice last year--once in the throat--and killed him while he was driving, it wasn't murder.
After a week of deliberations, a jury at Southwest Justice Center found that Jon Willson was killed during a sudden quarrel and convicted Aguilar of voluntary manslaughter.
The verdict shocked the prosecutor and friends and family of the victim.
. . .
Aguilar, 38, of Menifee, showed little emotion as he listened to the verdicts that mean he'll someday be able to go home.
His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Addison Steele, said Aguilar and his family had hoped he'd be going home Thursday, had the jury agreed with the defense argument that Aguilar killed Willson in self-defense.
If Aguilar had been found guilty of either first or second-degree murder, he could have spent the rest of his life in prison. Now, the most time he can serve is 14 years in prison, his attorney said.
. . .
'I would have been happier if he had been able to go home today, but I'm still happy with this verdict,' Steele said outside the courtroom.
Willson was stabbed twice--first in the right side and then in the throat--while driving his pickup with Aguilar as the lone passenger April 10, 2003. Willson's body was found slumped in his pickup hidden in an orange grove in the Woodcrest area of south Riverside. Aguilar left it there and fled to an uncle's nearby home before he burned the clothes he worn during the slaying.
. . .
Steele said jurors told him that when they first began deliberating last week, they were split evenly in four ways: Three thought Aguilar was guilty of first degree murder, three second degree murder, three believed it to be voluntary manslaughter and three more felt he was not guilty because it was self-defense.
'They said they worked through every bit of evidence in there,' Steele said, 'I think they just came to the conclusion that Edward was afraid of Jon.'
Jurors also told him that Aguilar made the right decision to testify: 'They said they realize he contradicted himself several times, but they still came away thinking he was afraid.'"




















This is the article from the sentencing
The judge was bothered that Addison's client had won the trial so he gave him the maximum for the lesser offense
this is called the victory tax
That's when the life sentence charge or charges are beaten and the judge gives the maximum for whatever is left


