Nieves Found Guilty of 1st-Degree Murder

After deliberating one day, a San Fernando jury found Sandi Nieves guilty of first-degree murder for killing her four daughters.

Because the jury also found special circumstances of arson, lying in wait and multiple murders, Nieves could face the death penalty.

“We’re very grateful that the jury agreed with us and held the defendant responsible for what she had done,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth Barshop.

Standing in the courtroom of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt, the 36-year-old woman hunched over and covered her face by holding up a sheet of paper as the verdict was read.

“The four girls had every chance and hope taken away by the one person they trusted the most, their own mother,” said their stepmother, Charlotte Nieves.

During the three-month trial, prosecutors contended that Nieves tried to commit suicide and kill her five children out of financial desperation and anger at the men in her life who she believed had failed her. In the weeks before the fire, a boyfriend left her, and she was engaged in a child-support battle with an ex-husband.

On the night of June 30, 1998, Nieves told her children--ages 5 to 14 at the time--to sleep in the kitchen area of their rented Saugus house, according to testimony. Sometime after midnight, as the children slept, she poured gasoline on the hallway carpet and started a fire.

Her four daughters, Kristl and Jaqlene Folden, 5 and 7, and Rashel and Nikolet Folden-Nieves, 11 and 12, died of smoke inhalation. Her son, David Nieves, who was 14 at the time, survived. He testified against his mother during her trial.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Waco had argued that Nieves should be acquitted because there was insufficient evidence that she started the deadly blaze, and alternatively, that even if she did cause the fire she should not be held responsible because she was “legally unconscious” at the time.

On the trial’s most dramatic day, Nieves took the stand and said that she had a “flashback” of holding a lighter in her hand and seeing a blaze. But she also claimed to have no knowledge of what happened. She testified she ingested a combination of Zoloft, a prescription drug, and alcohol on the day of the fire.

During the final weeks of the trial, expert witnesses for the defense tried to show that Nieves was in a semiconscious or sleepwalking-like state. Prosecution experts disagreed.

In addition to four counts of first-degree murder, Nieves was found guilty of attempted murder of her son and arson causing great bodily injuries.

Waco attributed the trial’s outcome to rulings by Wiatt restricting his case. During the trial, Waco filed a motion to remove Wiatt, alleging the judge was biased. Wiatt has denied Waco’s allegations and said that his rulings were in accordance with the law.

Given what the jurors were allowed to hear, Waco said, “the verdict, while disappointing, was not a total shock.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman said that prosecutors “had an overwhelming amount of evidence” of Nieves’ guilt.

During the trial, prosecutors presented “suicide letters” that Nieves mailed to her ex-boyfriend and an ex-husband just hours before the fire.

A canister partly filled with gasoline--and bearing Nieves’ fingerprints--was found in the house.

Her son, David Nieves, also testified that during the fire, he and his sisters woke surrounded by smoke and fumes but that their mother told them to stay where they were and just put their faces into their blankets.

Attending court were David Folden, father of two of the victims, and Fernando Nieves, father of the other two.

“It’s been very tough to accept that Nikolet, Rashel, Kristl and Jaqlene are gone,” said Charlotte Nieves. “We miss them every day.”

Jurors will return Tuesday for Nieves’ penalty phase to determine whether she should receive the death penalty.

“It’s been a very long road, especially for the [victims’] family,” Silverman said. “They waited two years to hear those words--guilty.”