ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 12CF3351
Date: October 29, 2014
SANTA ANA – A man is scheduled to face trial tomorrow for stabbing and murdering his former girlfriend in a Santa Ana alleyway. Luis Antonio Garcia Morales, 26, Santa Ana, is charged with one felony count of special circumstance murder by lying in wait with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. If convicted, Morales faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Opening statements are scheduled to begin tomorrow, Oct. 30, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-35, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
On the evening of Nov. 13, 2012, Morales is accused of arranging to meet with 21-year-old Maria Isabel Cerrillo, with whom he had a previous romantic relationship, by pretending to be someone else. The defendant is accused of meeting his ex-girlfriend in an alleyway in Santa Ana, murdering her by stabbing her repeatedly, and fleeing the scene. The victim died from multiple stab wounds.
Morales was arrested on the morning of Nov. 15, 2012, by Santa Ana Police Department officers, who investigated this case.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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TONY RACKAUCKAS, District Attorney
Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff
Office: 714-347-8408
Cell: 714-292-2718
