SANTA ANA — A 24-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of fatally stabbing his girlfriend in the neck as she was trying to pull him off one of their roommates he was tussling with in Stanton.
Edgar Amezcua Navarrete, who is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 14, was convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Navarrete was convicted of killing 22-year-old Serena Gallardo and wounding his two roommates, Gwendolynne Carranza and Angel Torres, on Jan. 15, 2023.
“Anger, alcohol and assaultive conduct are a recipe for wrong,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Orue said in his opening statement. “But when a deadly weapon like a knife is used it’s a recipe for murder.”
Navarrete and his girlfriend Gallardo had been drinking with their new roommates Carranza and her boyfriend Torres in a converted garage studio apartment at 10530 Bell St., near Knott and Cerritos avenues, when an argument between the defendant and Gallardo escalated, Orue said.
“The defendant had a lot of alcohol on board,” Orue said, adding an expert determined that Navarrete’s blood-alcohol level was between .15% and .30%.
The argument started in the residence and then spilled outside into a rainstorm in the driveway, Orue said.
“He pushed the victim against the wall and Miss Carranza came to her defense,” Orue said.
Navarrete took out a pocket knife and slashed Carranza in the head behind her right ear, Orue said. Her scream got her boyfriend’s attention and he burst out of their apartment to aid her, Orue said.
Torres “tackled” Navarrete “and it’s on,” Orue said.
“He tried to get him in a choke hold to stop him,” Orue said.
As they struggled, Navarrete slashed away at Torres, wounding his head as well, Orue said.
A neighbor told investigators she saw Gallardo attempt to pull Navarrete off of Torres and she grabbed her neck as Navarrete swung back with the knife, Orue said.
Gallardo knocked on a neighbor’s door, imploring the resident to call 911 at about 11:50 p.m., Orue said. The neighbor saw “blood squiring out of her neck,” the prosecutor added.
Gallardo “died within an hour,” Orue said.
“She had a sizable stab wound right above her right clavicle,” Orue said. “There’s only one person responsible for her murder and that’s the defendant.”
Orue added, “I believe the evidence will show this is not self defense and there’s no excuse under the law.”
Navarrete’s attorney, Madeline Berkley of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, told jurors, “This is an awful, tragic situation.”
Berkley said the two had been dating for six months and living together for about four months. The other couple moved in a week before, Berkley said.
“The dynamic between the four wasn’t great,” Berkley said.
Navarrete and Gallardo bickered incessantly but he was never physically abusive, Berkley said, adding that Carranza did not approve of Navarrete.
Leading up to the deadly conflict, “they were arguing again — about nothing and everything,” Berkley said.
Torres is a “trained fighter,” who had Navarrete in a wrestling move aiming to “choke him out,” Berkley said.
As Gallardo attempted to pull Navarrete off of Torres he “inadvertently stabs Serena one time in the clavicle, tragically killing her,” Berkley said.
Berkley argued her client did not commit murder.
“That tragedy wasn’t murder,” Berkley said. “My client was acting in self-defense from Angel and Serena was inadvertently, accidentally stabbed while breaking up the fight.”
