Death Urged for Mother Who Killed 4 in Fire

Agreeing on punishment as swiftly as they did on guilt, 12 jurors declared Wednesday that a Santa Clarita woman deserves to die for the murders of her four daughters.

The woman, Sandi Nieves, sat stoically as the verdict of execution was delivered after one day of deliberations. She began crying after she was out of the courtroom, her lawyer said.

Nieves, 36, would become the 12th woman on California’s death row when she is sentenced by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt, who is expected to uphold the jury’s verdict.

“We’re very happy with today’s verdict,” said Fernando Nieves, father of two of the dead girls, as well as a teenage boy who survived. “The jury never lost focus of what this trial was all about--it was about four innocent little girls.”

Eyes gleaming with tears, the father said he would like to watch his ex-wife’s execution.

Under California law, the case will automatically be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

During a trial that lasted three months, prosecutors established that Nieves wanted to take revenge against the men in her life. She told her children they were having a slumber party, had them sleep together in the kitchen and then started a fire.

Jaqlene and Kristl Folden, 5 and 7, and Rashel and Nikolet Folden-Nieves, 11 and 12, died of smoke inhalation. Nieves’ son, David Nieves, who was 14 at the time, was also in the house but survived. The boy, now 16, testified against his mother. He told the jury he and his sisters woke up choking on smoke, but their mother would not let them leave the house.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Waco contended that at the time of the blaze, Nieves was in a state resembling sleepwalking induced by a combination of hormonal imbalance, stress and an adverse reaction to prescription drugs.

On July 27, the jury of five women and seven men found Nieves guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and arson.

“Given the facts and the circumstances of the crimes, this is the only appropriate verdict,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman. “The mother who deliberately killed her children to exact revenge--that’s a horrible crime.”

Added Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth Barshop: “How do you forgive someone who did the unforgivable?”

Jurors shunned the news media after finishing their work Wednesday. But they did invite prosecutors and the victims’ families to a jury room reception, where they shared doughnuts and cookies.

Outside San Fernando Superior Court, some jurors hugged as they left.

Waco complained he wasn’t permitted to present all the evidence he had hoped during the trial. “The court seemed to have rulings which were very consistently favoring the prosecution,” he said.

During the particularly contentious guilt phase of the trial, prosecutors and Waco fought over evidence, each accusing the other of impropriety. Wiatt repeatedly sanctioned Waco, mostly for making improper objections or statements, and slapped him with thousands of dollars in fines.

Waco, in turn, repeatedly filed motions to remove Wiatt from the trial, alleging the judge was biased against him. In his own court filings, Wiatt denied Waco’s charges.

On Wednesday, Wiatt announced he was wiping out thousands of dollars in monetary sanctions he had imposed on the defense attorney, except the first one--a $500 fine for failure to comply with discovery rules.

Waco said he planned to appeal the fine.

With tears in his eyes outside the courthouse, David Folden, father of the two younger dead girls, said it didn’t matter to him whether Sandi Nieves--who was his stepdaughter before he married, then divorced her--lives or dies.

“I have to deal with my life without my daughters,” Folden said. “The pain never goes away.”