Teen takes plea deal in Halloween party stabbing
SAN BERNARDINO — One year after a teenage girl killed another teen at a Halloween party, a six-year plea bargain agreement was handed down in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Marilyn Danielle Perez, who is now 17, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter on Sept. 30, receiving a plea agreement from prosecutors.
Perez had stabbed then 16-year-old Blanca Becerra 16 times during a fight at a house on the 35000 block of Avenue C in Yucaipa. Both girls had arrived at the party together, according to reports. Becerra reportedly got into an altercation with a male who had arrived with the two girls. Perez became involved.
During the trial, defense attorneys presented a case that Becerra, who had a juvenile record, became enraged with Perez, biting her, beating her and eventually striking her with a baseball bat. Perez, in response, stabbed Becerra repeatedly.
Prosecutors argued Perez had been the aggressor. Both sides admitted the underage girls had been drinking alcohol.
“(Perez) is the one who pulled the knife first and was the aggressor,” said Deputy District Attorney William Lee. After that is when Becerra pulled out the bat, Lee added.
Sheriff’s deputies tracked down Perez at Redlands Community Hospital a couple of hours after the fight, during the early morning hours of Nov. 1, 2009. Perez, who deputies said did not know that Becerra had died, was being treated for injuries incurred from the fight.
According to the plea agreement, Perez, who has already served one year in jail, must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence. She will be housed at a juvenile corrections jail until she turns 18.
