A 38-year-old Anaheim man’s attorney argued Thursday that if jurors vote to convict his client of beating and strangling his girlfriend they should opt for voluntary manslaughter over first-degree murder because the defendant was concussed in a bar fight and was highly intoxicated before the conflict.
Aaron Romo is charged with murder, false imprisonment and domestic violence, all felonies, and faces a sentencing enhancement for committing a crime while out of custody on bail for a separate crime.
Romo is accused of beating 24-year-old Mirelle Mateus of La Palma on Dec. 5, 2022, and then killing her on March 17, 2023.
The couple met in May 2022 through Jerit Wohlford, who briefly dated her first but was Romo’s friend, Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney said. Within a month of dating, Mateus moved in with Romo, Birney said.
Romo lived in a “luxury apartment” at 1901 Union St. and the two posted photos of themselves as a couple traveling to Hawaii and elsewhere, Birney said.
Romo was accused on Dec. 5, 2022, of beating Mateus with the victim being “thrown over a guardrail” of the apartment’s balcony at one point, Birney said.
Romo was charged with domestic violence, and on Dec. 14, 2022, he deliberately cut his arms and was taken to a hospital, Birney alleged.
The two remained in contact despite a restraining order, but the relationship had its ups and downs. On March 16 of last year, Wohlford talked Romo into going out on the town to get over Mateus, Birney said.
Romo got into a conflict with a woman he was pursuing in the bar and she slapped him, leading security to kick the group out of the bar, Birney said.
While they were out front Romo got into a fistfight and was knocked out, later suffering two black eyes, Birney said.
Romo lost his phone, so his friend called for an Uber and when the driver showed up, Romo used the Uber employee’s phone to repeatedly call Mateus until she picked up and agreed to pick him up, Birney said.
She drove him back to his apartment about 2:15 a.m. and the two got into a violent struggle, Birney said. The victim’s mother — worried she could not reach her daughter — saw the victim had Wohlford in her call log so she dialed him and he recounted what had happened the night before, Birney said. The mother went to Romo’s apartment and found her daughter’s body in Romo’s bathtub.
By then, Romo was in Temecula. He left his apartment about 4:50 a.m. and rode his motorcycle to the home of his other girlfriend, Stephanie Rodriguez, where he allegedly confessed to her before slashing his arms again, Birney said.
Romo’s attorney, Ricardo Nicol, said voluntary manslaughter “is the best fit” for the crime.
“Mr. Romo was extremely intoxicated that night,” Nicol said.
The defendant and Wolford downed two-thirds of a bottle of vodka before then went out to party at the bar, Nicol said.
“And he was acting like a drunk,” Nicol said of his client’s misbehavior in the club. “He got in a dumb fight where he was severely beaten.”
Nicol argued that “being that drunk impairs your ability to carefully weigh and consider the consequences of your actions.”
Nicol also said the defendant suffered a concussion in the bar fight, which further impaired his ability to think through his actions.
“This head injury alone takes him out of premeditation and deliberation,” which are necessary elements for a first-degree murder conviction, Nicol argued.
He further argued it would also remove second-degree murder as a possible consequence as well.
“It’s fair to argue that but for the head injury Mirelle would still be alive,” Nicol said.
But for a voluntary manslaughter conviction, the defense would have to show there was some provocation of the act of killing the victim, Birney, argued.
“There is no evidence Mirelle did anything to provoke him. None. It doesn’t exist,” Birney argued.
The prosecutor said the defendant’s claim doesn’t measure up to provocation that there was evidence she may have been seeing someone else on her phone.
Birney noted there was no evidence she was unfaithful to him, and, the prosecutor added, “He’s going out with so many women he can’t even remember their names.”
There was evidence put on during the trial that he had five restraining orders with five women with two saying he choked them during angry conflicts, according to Birney.
Birney said the victim was “fighting for her life” as he strangled and beat her as he argued for first-degree murder.
Romo’s head injury didn’t prevent the defendant from riding 65 miles on his motorcycle to his girlfriend’s house, Birney said. It also didn’t stop him from hiding the victim’s phone or avoiding police, Birney said.
It also didn’t stop the defendant from scrawling on a wall and mirror at his home, Birney said.
“This is a case in which he beat her and strangled her, and his size and strength matters,” Birney said of the defendant who took enough pride in his bodybuilding to post photos of himself at the gym on social media.
As for provocation, given the defendant’s muscular physique, “Why would she” provoke him, Birney asked.
Jurors began deliberating at the end of the day Thursday and will resume Tuesday morning.