Milkshake poison appeal fails

On April 22, 2002, Fuentes-Ortiz was sent to prison for life with the possibility of parole. She also received six years concurrently for concealing a child and inflicting great bodily injury.

During her 15-day trial, Fuentes-Ortiz claimed she feared her husband because he was abusive. She also said he raped her the night before she delivered the insecticide-laced beverage to his Toys R' Us workplace in Redwood City.

Yesterday, the three-person state Court of Appeals unanimously rejected an appeal argument that the jury in her trial was not told it could decide it was an act of self defense.

"The prosecutor's questioning effectively pointed out that if she had actually feared harm at the hands of the victim, reasonably or unreasonably, she had access to an automobile and had the entire day to take the couple's child and get to a place of safety," wrote Justice Ignazio Ruvolo in the decision.

Ruvolo added that "the evidence overwhelmingly suggested that the appellant was simply enraged."

Deputy District Attorney Christine Ford, who prosecuted the case, said she was pleased with the court's decision.

"Honestly, I felt the case was strong and that they were airtight convictions. She is going to stay where she belongs," Ford said.

The jury deliberated two days before returning its verdict, just more than 10 years after the crime.

On March 11, 2002, Fuentes-Ortiz brought her husband the milkshake laced with Ortho-7 insecticide. She told him it was a protein shake intended to help him build muscle mass. Gilbert Ortiz testified that the drink tasted "like chocolate but sour and burning."

Ortiz fell to the ground in convulsions, slipped into a 10-day coma and suffered multiple organ failures, a heart attack and was incommunicative. He testified he has residual health problems from the poisoning.

While her husband was comatose, Fuentes-Ortiz gave Redwood City police conflicting stories of where the poison originated from - once she said a masked man tried to kill her husband; another time she claimed it was a suicide attempt.

By the time Ortiz could tell authorities who had given him the questionable shake, Fuentes-Ortiz had fled to Mexico with their two-year-old son, Jonathan. She was profiled numerous times on the TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" over the eight years it took FBI agents to arrest her in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

Jonathan remained missing until Fuentes-Ortiz's mother brought him to the county jail to visit his imprisoned mother.

Fuentes-Ortiz told the court that by poisoning her husband she meant only to incapacitate, not kill him, to escape an abusive marriage. She also claimed that Gilbert raped her twice.

"There's no motive, no explanation for anything other than domestic violence," defense attorney Joseph O'Sullivan said during his closing arguments.

Prosecutors argued, though, that the murder attempt was fueled by jealousy and anger over his long work hours.

Fuentes-Ortiz becomes eligible for parole in another five years.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.