A Palm Desert man who fatally stabbed his estranged wife and her lover outside a Coachella Valley motel in extreme rage over their affair was sentenced Friday to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Kenny Shun Yu Wu, 38, killed 31-year-old Yaying “YaYa” Wu of Palm Desert and 30-year-old Jesus Sanchez of Cathedral City in 2022.
An Indio jury in January found the defendant guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, special-circumstance allegations of lying in wait and taking multiple lives, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
During a hearing at the Larson Justice Center Friday — Kenny Wu’s 38th birthday — Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Hawkins imposed the sentence mandated by state law on the defendant.
“Evidence presented at trial showed that Wu committed the killings after his wife firmly declared she wanted a divorce,” according to a District Attorney’s Office statement released in February. “The prosecution detailed evidence of stalking, domestic violence, infidelity and ongoing marital issues leading up to the fatal confrontation.”
Defense attorney John Dolan described his client as mentally overwrought by his spouse’s rejection of him.
“This case is about Kenny’s state of mind,” Dolan told jurors at the outset of the nearly monthlong trial. “It’s an awful and ugly situation.”
He recounted how his client had been distressed to the point of a complete breakdown over YaYa’s ongoing relationship with Sanchez in 2022.
The extramarital affair was uncovered in the winter of that year, and Wu initially tried to forgive his spouse’s behavior, but it left him emotionally damaged, in need of professional help, Dolan said.
Wu futilely hoped that his wife would abandon her connection to Sanchez and remain in his life. Wu had long conversations with relatives, seeking to resolve the conflict. Dolan said YaYa’s own father tried to help, speaking with the defendant for more than two hours via telephone, listening to him plead for her fidelity.
Testimony from Wu’s preliminary hearing in October 2022 indicated he had physically assaulted the woman on more than one occasion, stemming from her communications with Sanchez.
YaYa’s mother, Xue Jia, believed her daughter was in danger, having heard Wu express a desire “to kill them,” a sheriff’s deputy testified.
When Wu discovered that the victim intended to meet Sanchez at the Spring Hill Suites on Highway 111 in Palm Desert on the morning of July 15, 2022, he went there, waiting for the victims and then confronting them in the parking lot.
“The rage just exploded,” Dolan said.
Prosecutors said Wu pulled a knife and stabbed his wife and Sanchez multiple times, killing them. The defendant did not attempt to flee afterward, instead inflicting superficial wounds to himself, trying to make it appear there had been a struggle.
Wu had no documented prior felony convictions.