Justice was apparently finally served after it stumbled the first time around, as a man who initially got off on a mistrial was finally convicted and sentenced for killing his wife and then pointing the gun at their four-year-old son.

We heard the heartbreaking story in November 2021 that a Daly City man shot and killed his estranged wife Lilliam Orozco Zelaya (pictured above), and did so not only with her four-year-old son in the next room, but he also pointed the gun at that four-year-old son. According to court documents, the killer, Eriberto Beltran Arenas thought the estranged wife was dating someone new, so he shot her twice in the head and once in the leg, declaring, “I killed her because she was a slut, learn how sluts die.” He also called Orozco Zelaya’s mother to tell her “I killed the bitch,” and upon Beltran Arenas’s arrest, police found he had 18 firearms registered to his name.  

But at Beltran Arenas’s May 2024 murder trial, the jury deadlocked, as KRON4 reported at the time. His attorney argued it was a crime of passion and not premeditated, leaving jurors unable to agree if this was first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or voluntary manslaughter. And the judge declared the whole thing a mistrial.

But Beltran Arenas was returned to jail, and prosecutors decided to retry the case. They ended up not even having to, because he pleaded no contest to second-degree murder conviction in December 2024. And now the Bay Area News Group reports he’s been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, and on top of that, three additional years for making threats of great bodily injury by pointing the gun at the four-year-old.

“We’re completely satisfied that justice was done in this case and that justice was obtained for the victim,” San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe told the News Group.

Beltran Arenas’s lawyer felt the sentence was excessive. “While I respect the court’s decision, I am disappointed with the sentencing, as I believe significant mitigating factors warranted a lesser term than the aggravated sentence imposed,” defense attorney Gaby Guraiib said after the sentencing. “Let’s not forget that Mr. Beltran pled guilty to second-degree murder after a mistrial, thereby imposing a life sentence upon himself.”

Still, the mother who received that awful-post murder phone call in November 2021 had her own statement read before the sentencing. “From that day on, my life was shattered,” Lilliyam Zelaya-Urbina said. “She had many dreams and hopes… I will never hear my daughter call me ‘mommy’ again.”

Related: Mother Shot By Estranged Husband In Daly City While 4-Year-Old Was In Next Room [SFist]

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