Guatemalan widow freed of murder charge

Guatemalan national, twenty-two year old Glenda Montero of Succotz Village was on trial for the murder of her husband Cornelio; a crime police say she admitted to committing. But tonight Glenda is free because the caution statement with her confession, which the case depended upon, was not allowed into evidence and police had no other proof against her. The jury of twelve deliberated for only an hour before acquitting Glenda of the murder. She was accused of stabbing Cornelio on the chest just after five a.m. on June twenty-eighth, 2007, causing his death. She allegedly called 911 and told the operator that she had just stabbed her husband and then confessed to the police in her statement. Police also claimed that when Cornelio was pronounced dead at their home, Glenda grabbed a knife and tried to kill herself. But in court Glenda, who is said to have been a victim of domestic abuse, denied those allegations and claimed that Cornelio committed suicide. She testified that she woke him up to cut firewood and he started grumbling. Glenda told the court that she was feeding their three year old child when she heard a noise and then found Cornelio lying on the kitchen floor bleeding profusely. He had a single stab wound to middle of his chest about an inch deep that penetrated his heart. The seven inch kitchen knife that is believed to have been the murder weapon was never recovered. Elizabeth Purcell represented the prosecution while Attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley Glenda represented Montero.