CORA FRAMED, ATTORNEY SAYS DEFENSE ARGUES ESTRANGED HUSBAND RESPONSIBLE FOR CHILDREN'S SLAYINGS.Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer Mapping out her strategy that her client was framed, the attorney for Socorro ``Cora'' Caro said Thursday that the defendant was shot in the head by her estranged es·trange tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es 1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate. 2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. husband after he murdered three of their sons. As she wrapped up her opening arguments, Assistant Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Jean Farley said she will present evidence that Dr. Xavier Caro - not Cora - fatally fa·tal·ly adv. 1. So as to cause death; mortally: fatally injured. 2. So as to result in disaster or ruin. 3. According to the decree of fate; inevitably. Adv. 1. shot their three school-age sons as they slept in the family's Santa Rosa Santa Rosa, city, Argentina Santa Rosa, city (1991 pop. 80,629), capital of La Pampa prov., central Argentina. It is a modern city and road junction surrounded by a rich agricultural and cattle-raising area. Valley home. The couple's 13-month-old son was unharmed. ``You will learn a great deal in this case as to the length Dr. Caro went to make it look like Mrs. Caro shot her children and herself,'' Farley said. Cora Caro, 44, could face the death penalty if she is convicted of murdering sons Joey, Michael and Christopher on Nov. 22, 1999. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity not guilty by reason of insanity n. plea in court of a person charged with a crime who admits the criminal act, but whose attorney claims he/she was so mentally disturbed at the time of the crime that he/she lacked the capacity to have intended to commit a crime. . Prosecutors claim Caro shot the boys, and then herself, out of revenge over her failing marriage to the prominent Northridge oncologist. But Farley claimed that Xavier Caro shot the boys, as well as his wife, because he wanted to continue a romantic affair. A wound ballistics The field of wound ballistics largely comprises the study of the physiology and medical effects of projectile weapons (chiefly, but not exclusively, bullets) on humans or animals. It can be considered the intersection of medicine and terminal ballistics. expert will testify ``Mrs. Caro's wound in her head was not consistent whatsoever with a suicide,'' Farley said. ``The location, size and the evidence surrounding Mrs. Caro at the time of her discovery is consistent with someone else holding a gun in a downward fashion,'' she said. Caro has no memory of what happened the night of the slayings because of two life-saving operations that removed portions of her brain, Farley said. Caro, wearing a a black jacket over an ankle-length black-and-white print jumper, remained stoic as Farley accused Xavier Caro of planting evidence to frame his wife for the slayings. ``We will produce witnesses and evidence to show you why the prosecution's version of events could not possibly be accurate,'' Farley said. |
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