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Editor's note: This story contains graphic details. Reader discretion is advised.
Hays County Assistant District Attorney Michael McCarthy brandished the same knife Krystle Villanueva used to kill her 5-year-old daughter Giovanna Hernandez during Thursday’s closing arguments.
McCarthy, with the knife’s blade up, turned to the jury and told them: “Just before Krystle Villanueva plunged this knife into her, (Giovanna) said, ‘No mommy. No mommy.’ Ladies and gentlemen, now you get the chance to adopt that as your battle cry, to hold her accountable, to tell her ‘No mommy’ and to protect this community … find her guilty as charged.”
Nearly 5 hours later, the jury found Villanueva guilty on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Villanueva, 27, stabbed her 5-year-old daughter to death on Jan. 5, 2017 at her home in the 200 block of Willow Terrace in Kyle, later dismembering Hernandez’s body. She then attacked her father-in-law Eustorgio Arellano-Uresti with a knife.
The trial began on Tuesday, Feb. 25. During the opening of the trial, Villaneuva entered a plea to stand mute, which is when a criminal defendant refuses to enter a plea during arraignment and, after rising, does not answer the judge for a plea of guilty or not guilty. District Court Judge Bill Henry entered a plea of not guilty to both charges on behalf of the court.
Defense attorney Carlos Garcia argued on Villanueva's behalf suggesting she might have Capgras Syndrome, a psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a close family member or friend has been replaced by an identical impostor. The defense spent most of the trial trying to prove Villanueva’s insanity by a preponderance of the evidence.
“Mental illness is real,” Garcia said Thursday. “It’s real and it can cause people to do horrible things. The reason we have this law of insanity is because we do not blame people when their brain is not working right. We do not punish people for that.”
The prosecution, however, argued that Villanueva’s abuse of drugs led to the murder of her daughter.
“Do you think there’s anything right about a woman who has had a long history of drug abuse, who has throughout her life abused marijuana … who was admitted into a hospital several times diagnosed with drug abuse and psychosis associated with that,” District Attorney Wes Mau said during closing arguments. “Then shows up at a hospital with marijuana and alcohol in her system after having butchered her own child. Is there anything right with telling her this isn’t your fault?”
“She did something crazy,” Mau added. “But she was not insane.”
The jury spent approximately 4 hours deliberating their decision. They found Villanueva guilty on both charges she faced. She was sentenced to life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division without parole for the capital murder charge. Villanueva was sentenced to 20 years for the charge of aggravated assault.
“Miss Villanueva, I believe this sentence gives some measure of justice for the community," Henry said. “However, it doesn’t provide hope — there isn’t any hope in this situation. You’re going to have to find it in your years in custody, to find some sort of redemption and I hope that will occur.”
Following sentencing, victim impact statements by family members were given.
Refugio Hernandez Jr. . took the stand and said Giovanna knew how to brighten an entire room.
“She was full of life for the age she was,” Hernandez Jr. said while in tears. “I was blessed with her for 5 years. I thank the man upstairs for that.”
“I’ll forgive you,” he said looking at Villanueva. “Whatever path you go I wish you the best of luck.”
