Merced man who killed girlfriend with his own weight sentenced in plea deal

A Merced man who killed his girlfriend by putting his weight upon her was sentenced Thursday to serve 11 years in state prison as part of a plea deal.

Jose Angel Urena-Ortiz, 26, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. Merced Superior Court Commissioner Jeanne Schechter handed down the maximum possible sentence.

Urena-Ortiz was arrested in December 2015 after he called police to report that his girlfriend, Catrina Fonseca-Martinez, 23, wasn’t breathing. Police officials said medical information from the hospital where the woman was taken led investigators to believe Urena-Ortiz played a role in her death.

Thomas Min, the deputy district attorney on the case, said Fonseca-Martinez died from compression asphyxiation, or the weight of Urena-Ortiz’s body.

Kevin Little, Urena-Ortiz’s defense attorney, said Urena-Ortiz ended up on top of the woman during a domestic violence situation.

“How exactly it happened, only the two of them know,” Little said.

Min said the sentence was fair.

“I believe, based on the evidence and based on the autopsy, it was a just resolution,” he said.

Urena-Ortiz and Fonseca-Martinez’s relationship was riddled with domestic violence, records show.

Urena-Ortiz in 2012 served jail time and was ordered to complete a batterer’s treatment program after multiple domestic violence instances with Fonseca-Martinez. He was arrested again in 2014 on allegations of inflicting corporal injury on a cohabitant. He accepted a plea deal and received two years of probation.

In 2015, prior to Fonseca-Martinez’s death, he again was arrested on suspicion of spousal abuse. However, Merced County prosecutors refused to file the case in court, citing a “lack of evidence,” records show.

Little said the case was tragic for everyone involved.

“Mr. Ortiz didn’t intend for Ms. Martinez to die,” Little said. “The greatest victim in this case was their very young son. There really is no winner in this situation.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Merced man who killed girlfriend with his own weight sentenced in plea deal."