CARO PASSED ON CONFESSION.

Byline: Sabrina Decker Staff Writer

VENTURA - Although so religious she tucked bibles beneath her children's pillows at night, convicted murderer Soccoro ``Cora'' Caro refused a reverend's efforts to seek her confession for killing her three boys, the minister said Friday.

David Leon, a senior pastor for an undisclosed congregation in the San Fernando Valley, said that he tried on at least three occasions to secure Caro's confession so her soul would be at peace.

``She always looked me in the eye and said she did not do it,'' Leon said during the penalty phase of Caro's trial.

Caro, was found guilty of the first degree murders of her three oldest sons, Xavier Joseph ``Joey,'' 11, Michael, 8, and Christopher, 5. Her 13-month-old son, Gabriel, was left unharmed.

Jurors must now determine if the affluent Santa Rosa Valley housewife will spend the rest of her life in prison, or receive the death penalty.

Leon, a cousin, said he was not Caro's regular minister, but came to her aid as soon as she was incarcerated. At first Caro could not even discuss her sons, he said.

``She has always cried whenever we'd talk about the boys,'' he said.

Leon's testimony was offered by the defense Friday in an effort to show their client as a compassionate and loving mother who had grown deeply depressed over a failing marriage to a controlling husband.

To further demonstrate her character, the defense also called Caro's former boyfriend, Armando Valencia, to the stand Friday.

Valencia, a Los Angeles firefighter and Caro's high school sweetheart, said that during the eight years they dated he never knew her to have a temper or to strike out at anyone physically.

Prosecutors have claimed that Caro had frequently battered and thrownobjects at her husband, Dr. Xavier Caro, a Northridge rheumatologist, prior to the night of the killings.

Both sides admit that the couple suffered from a difficult marriage.