A north Fayette man was convicted late this afternoon for brutally stabbing his wife nine times in front of their three young children just outside their home at the Landmark Mobile Home Park Jan. 20.
Jesus Ojeda Jimenez, 34, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 40 years in prison by Fayette County Superior Court Judge Robert Mack Crawford.
Jimenez’s attorney argued that the crime was not premeditated and that he snapped because he believed his wife was having an affair with another man. However, prior to the deadly attack Jimenez wrote a note that was left in the family’s home, asking for forgiveness and for his children to be taken care of.
Prosecutor Warren Sellers also noted that Jimenez picked out the kitchen knife he used in the crime and laid in wait in darkness for his wife to come home, other signs that the crime was premeditated.
The Jimenez’s three children, all of whom witnessed the killing, have been in counseling and are living with separate family members.
During the attack, the couple’s oldest son, then 11, tried to stop his father but Jimenez pushed him away, Sellers added. His 9-year-old brother went to a neighbor’s house to call 911.
The attack stopped when that neighbor went outside, scaring Jimenez away, leaving his wife laying on the ground, bleeding from multiple stab wounds.
Jimenez had been deported from the United States in April 2010, two months after he pled guilty to striking Ruiz multiple times in a November, 2009 assault that left her with a number of bruises and abrasions all over her body, a swollen eye and a bloody nose, according to the sheriff’s incident report.
Det. Wendy Moulder of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office served as the lead investigator in the case. Jimenez was represented by defense attorney Marco Corales and also received continuous service from an interpreter throughout the trial.
