NORWALK, Calif. (AP) The boyfriend of a teenage girl has
pleaded guilty to the stabbing deaths of her father and three of
her siblings, assuring himself a sentence of life in state prison
without parole.
With no plea deal and no agreement with prosecutors, Michael
Naranjo, 20, entered the surprise change of plea Tuesday to four
counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He is to be
formally sentenced Oct. 22 and will get a life in prison, said
Superior Court Judge John Torribio.
Authorities say Naranjo and his girlfriend Monica Diaz attacked
as the family slept in July 2000, allegedly after becoming enraged
when her parents refused to allow them to go away together for a
weekend.
The couple planned the murders and Naranjo did most of the
stabbing inside the Pico Rivera home, authorities said.
Diaz, 19, is also charged and her case is to go to trial in
several months.
Naranjo will likely not testify against Diaz, said his public
defender, Charles Cervantes.
Cervantes said his client entered the plea because he wanted to
accept responsibility and to prevent relatives from having to
experience the pain of the attacks again.
``He was acknowledging that this was a horrible, beyond painful
experience, for everyone involved and that he didn't want them to
have to relive that night of horror,'' Cervantes said.
Monica's mother, Sylvia Flores, was wounded in the attack. She
expressed confusion after Naranjo's plea.
``Three years waiting to go to trial and for what? I get no
answers,'' Flores said. ``I need to know why.''
Her husband, Richard Flores, 42; their sons, Richard Jr., 17,
and Matthew, 10, and their 13-year-old daughter, Sylvia, were
killed. Two of the couple's other daughters were unharmed.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Kevin McCormick, said
he was surprised by the plea, which came after jury selection had
begun. McCormick said he had been prepared to present overwhelming
blood, fingerprint and ballistic evidence against Naranjo.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)