A 25-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 20 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing his girlfriend in the neck as she tried to pull him away as the defendant tussled with their roommate in Stanton.
Edgar Amezcua Navarrete was convicted Dec. 11 of second-degree murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Navarrete was convicted of killing 22-year-old Serena Gallardo and wounding his two roommates, Gwendolynne Carranza and Angel Torres, on Jan. 15, 2023.
Navarrete “demonstrated a conscious disregard for human life when he decided to repeatedly swing the knife at one of the most sensitive and deadly placed on the human body, the head and neck,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Orue said in a sentencing brief.
“He repeatedly targeted each of his victims in one strategic and purposeful location after his hands were not accomplishing the desired effect,” Orue wrote. “He swung the knife at Gwen and cut/stabbed her in the side/back of her head/neck area.
“He swung the knife at Serena and stabbed her in the neck causing her death. He swung the knife at Angel and cut/stabbed him repeatedly in the back right side of his head. These strikes were not accidental. They were intentional, purposeful, directed and accurate.”
Navarrete’s attorney, Madeline Berkley of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, argued for probation, five years, or 15 to life.
Berkley cited the defendant’s age of 23 at the time and that he is “extremely remorseful.”
Navarrete was born in Fresno, and his parents divorced when he was 4, according to court records. His mother mostly raised him and the defendant told a doctor who examined him that his father was an alcoholic, according to court records.
Navarrete and his girlfriend Gallardo had been drinking with their new roommates Carranza and her boyfriend Torres in a converted garage studio apartment at 10530 Bell St., near Knott and Cerritos avenues, when an argument between the defendant and Gallardo escalated, Orue said.
“The defendant had a lot of alcohol on board,” Orue said, adding an expert determined that Navarrete’s blood-alcohol level was between .15% and .30%.
The argument started in the residence and then spilled outside into a rainstorm in the driveway, Orue said.
“He pushed the victim against the wall and Miss Carranza came to her defense,” Orue said.
Navarrete took out a pocket knife and slashed Carranza in the head behind her right ear, Orue said. Her scream got her boyfriend’s attention and he burst out of their apartment to aid her, Orue said.
Torres “tackled” Navarrete “and it’s on,” Orue said.
“He tried to get him in a choke hold to stop him,” Orue said.
As they struggled, Navarrete slashed away at Torres, wounding his head as well, Orue said.
A neighbor told investigators she saw Gallardo attempt to pull Navarrete off of Torres and she grabbed her neck as Navarrete swung back with the knife, Orue said.
Gallardo knocked on a neighbor’s door, imploring the resident to call 911 at about 11:50 p.m., Orue said. The neighbor saw “blood squiring out of her neck,” the prosecutor added.
Gallardo “died within an hour,” Orue said.
Berkley said the two had been dating for six months and living together for about four months. The other couple moved in a week before, Berkley said.
“The dynamic between the four wasn’t great,” Berkley said.
Navarrete and Gallardo bickered incessantly but he was never physically abusive, Berkley said, adding that Carranza did not approve of Navarrete.
Leading up to the deadly conflict, “they were arguing again — about nothing and everything,” Berkley said.
Torres is a “trained fighter,” who had Navarrete in a wrestling move aiming to “choke him out,” Berkley said.
As Gallardo attempted to pull Navarrete off of Torres he “inadvertently stabs Serena one time in the clavicle, tragically killing her,” Berkley said.