A woman accused of fatally stabbing a 54-year-old man in Perris and fleeing the scene with the help of her younger sister pleaded not guilty Monday to murder, while her sibling pleaded not guilty to an accessory charge.
Jessica Taylor Bratschi, 24, and Erica Nicole Bratschi, 19, both of Perris, were arrested last month following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation into the slaying of Samuel Coronado of Moreno Valley.
Along with murder, Jessica Bratschi is charged with a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. Her sister is charged only with being an accessory after the fact.
They were jointly arraigned before Superior Court Judge Gail O’Rane, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for May 20 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Jessica Bratschi is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta. Erica Bratschi is free on a $10,000 bond.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Carroll said that about 12:15 a.m. on March 24, Jessica Bratschi was involved in an undisclosed dispute with Coronado in the 400 block of Wilkerson Avenue, near East Fourth Street.
During the encounter, Jessica Bratschi allegedly pulled a knife and stabbed the victim, according to the criminal complaint.
Deputies and paramedics were called to the location and found Coronado unconscious, suffering grave wounds, Carroll said.
Rescue personnel attempted life-saving measures, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
Carroll said Central Homicide detectives tracked the defendants down on North Perris Boulevard and took them into custody without incident.
Court records show Jessica Bratschi has several unresolved misdemeanor cases pending in Superior Court, but no felony convictions. Her sister has no documented misdemeanor of felony convictions in Riverside County.