A Santa Rosa man faces 26 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Monday morning in Sonoma County Superior Court for the first-degree stabbing murder of a transient woman in 2012.
A Sonoma County jury rejected defense contentions that Jessy Zetino was on a frightening LSD-type acid trip when he killed 24-year-old Michela Wooldridge on Nov. 1, 2012 in Santa Rosa.
Zetino did not have the cognitive ability to commit pre-meditated murder and believed people at a Halloween party were demons, attorneys Lynn Stark-Slater and Kristin Long argued.
Zetino left the party to take a walk, and Wooldridge’s body was found a few hours later around 5:20 a.m. in the driveway of a lamp and shade business on Fourth Street.
She recently had arrived in Santa Rosa from Humboldt County and was close to finding a space at a homeless shelter.
Prosecutor Jane Murray’s evidence included Zetino’s DNA under Wooldridge’s fingernails, photos taken after his arrest in August that showed scars on his hands and his admission during a police interview that he stabbed Wooldridge with a two-blade folding knife with a Batman insignia on it.
In rejecting a manslaughter verdict during three days of deliberation, the jury determined Zetino voluntarily drugged himself and made rational decisions that night, including washing his hands and getting rid of the knife.
Last modified January 9, 2016 10:46 am
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