Deliberations Begin in Soto Murder Trial

After five weeks of trial testimony, a Ventura County jury Monday began deliberations in the murder trial of Gladis Soto.

The 38-year-old is facing murder charges for shooting her 35-year-old husband, Pedro Alba, once in the head as he slept Feb. 20 in their Ventura apartment.

According to trial testimony, Soto stashed her husband’s body in a closet for several hours, then cut off his head and limbs with an electric saw and stuffed the parts in plastic bags.

Soto was arrested after a homeless man reported to police seeing a woman burn bags of human body parts in a dry riverbed. The defendant confessed during a police interview.

During closing arguments of the trial last week, prosecutors urged the jury to convict Soto of first-degree murder and called the killing the act of a vengeful woman jealous of her husband’s relationship with another woman.

Defense attorneys told the jury that Soto was guilty of nothing more than manslaughter, arguing that their client was a battered woman who lashed out at her spouse after he raped her that night.

The jury, which deliberated for only a half day Monday, is expected to resume its deliberations this morning.