| For Immediate Release Case # 11CF1199
March 8, 2013 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
|
WOMAN FACES TRIAL FOR SHOOTING-MURDER OF HUSBAND AND ATTEMPTED MURDER OF 9 AND 16-YEAR-OLD SONS
SANTA ANA – A woman faces trial Monday for the murder of her husband and attempted murder of her 16 and 9-year-old sons in the family’s Tustin Ranch home. Annamaria Magno Gana, 43, unincorporated Tustin, is charged with one felony count each of special circumstances murder by lying in wait, two felony counts of attempted murder, and sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death and the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury. If convicted, she faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Opening statements are expected to begin Monday, March 11, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. in Department C-45, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
At approximately 4:30 p.m. on May 8, 2011, Gana is accused of arming herself with a firearm and shooting a bullet into the ceiling of a bedroom in her Tustin Ranch home. When the defendant’s 72-year-old husband Antonio Potenciano Gana and their 16-year-old son John Doe #1 ran into the bedroom in response to the gunshot, Gana is accused of turning the firearm toward her husband and murdering him by shooting him in the chest.
The defendant is accused of intending to also murder her two sons. She is accused of shooting at John Doe #1 as he turned and attempted to escape from the bedroom. The victim was shot in the arm but was able to get out of the home and call 911 on his cell phone. The defendant’s other son, 9-year-old John Doe #2, witnessed his mother holding the firearm and was able to wrestle it away from her and take it outside.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case, arrived at the scene and arrested Gana. She was transported to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries sustained while shooting the firearm.
The defendant’s sons were placed in the care of a family member.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
###