Brother who attacked and tortured sister with knife is sentenced
A Fresno County man who was convicted of slashing, torturing and kidnapping his estranged sister in 2015 was sentenced Tuesday to nine years to life in prison.
Oscar Gonzalez, 41, dressed in a yellow jail jumpsuit, appeared unfazed at Judge Houry Sanderson’s decision to send him to prison for possibly life. The judge described the attack on his sister, who was repeatedly beaten and slashed, as horrific.
“These crimes involved great violence and great bodily harm as found by the jury,” Sanderson said. “The degree of cruelty and viciousness and callousness was also very serious.”
In September, a jury found him not guilty of attempted murder, but guilty of assault likely to produce great bodily injury, torture, kidnapping and false imprisonment with violence.
Deputy District Attorney Ashley Paulson said Gonzalez brutalized his sister while at his home near Fowler. Gonzalez, who had been estranged from his sister for a decade, had recently moved back to the area from Washington State and wanted to patch things up.
But when Gonzalez started drinking, he got agitated. He criticized his sister for having her two sons in the military. He blamed her for his identity being stolen when he was a child, although there was never any proof, Paulson said.
“He lashed out at her, punching her in the face and then slashing her with knife in her neck, face, legs, feet and wrists,” Paulson said. “He then asked his girlfriend to bring him some duct tape.”
Gonzalez taped her hands and dragged her to a basement outside. In the basement he continued to kick, punch and cut her. One of her head wounds required 14 staples to close, Paulson said.
She was laying in a pool of her own blood on the floor of the basement. Through a small window, she could see her brother digging a hole.
“She thought she was going to die,” Paulson said.
But then Gonzalez did something his sister still doesn’t understand, Paulson said. He cut the duct tape off her wrists, kissed her on the head and let her go.
“She is a very brave lady and a very sweet woman,” Paulson said. “She went through a real life nightmare.”
The victim declined to come to Tuesday’s sentencing. She told Paulson, it was too painful.
Gonzalez’s attorney Eric Schweitzer filed a motion for a new trial, but it was denied by Sanderson.
Gonzalez’s girlfriend, Shawnessa Hinajosa, was charged with misdemeanor count of false imprisonment with violence and received a two year suspended sentenced. She was ordered to the adult offender work program.
