JUDGE ORDERS NIEVES TO STAND TRIAL IN DEATHS OF 4 DAUGHTERS.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer Sandi Dawn Nieves, portrayed by her defense attorney as distraught over the end of a love affair, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges of murdering her four young daughters. The 35-year-old Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, woman also will be tried on two other felonies - the attempted murder In the criminal law, attempted murder is committed when the defendant does an act that is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the crime of murder and, at the time of these acts, the person has a specific intention to kill. of her teen-age son and arson. Nieves has pleaded not guilty and was ordered to return to court June 16 for arraignment A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted in North Valley Superior Court in San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. . Nieves has been held without bail since July 1, when the girls were found dead on the kitchen floor of the family's Seco Canyon home. Autopsies showed the girls died of smoke inhalation Smoke Inhalation Definition Smoke inhalation is breathing in the harmful gases, vapors, and particulate matter contained in smoke. Description Smoke inhalation typically occurs in victims or firefighters caught in structural fires. . Following a seven-day preliminary hearing, Judge Ronald S. Coen ruled there was sufficient evidence to try Nieves. Admitted as evidence in the hearing was a letter Nieves had left to her former boyfriend, correspondence homicide detectives termed a suicide note A suicide note is a message left by someone who later attempts or commits suicide. It is estimated that 12-20% of suicides are accompanied by a note.[1] However, incidence rates may depend on race, method of suicide, and cultural differences and may reach rates as high . In it, Nieves told ex-boyfriend Scott Volt: ``You chose to leave and you took my soul, not just my heart. I have nothing left, you took it all. I just can't do this any more.'' Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide investigators say Nieves arranged a gruesome slumber party, then overnight extinguished the pilot light in the oven, lighting small fires in the rented house as the rooms filled with natural gas. Killed overnight were Jaqlene Marie Folden, 5; Kristl Dawn Folden, 7; and their half-sisters Rashel Hollie Nieves, 11; and Nikolet Amber Nieves, 12. Fernando Nieves, the girls' older brother, was asleep in his room but awakened several times to ask his mother what was wrong. But Nieves urged him back to bed, a sheriff's official told the Daily News. |
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