OKC mother ordered to trial in fatal beating
An Oklahoma City woman accused of killing her daughter while trying to rid the victim of Satan was ordered Friday to trial.
Juanita Martinez Gomez, 50, is charged with firstdegree murder in the fatal Aug. 27 beating of her daughter, Geneva Gomez, 33. The mother told police she forced a crucifix and religious medallion down her daughter’s throat during the beating, according to investigators.
At a preliminary hearing Friday, Oklahoma County Special Judge Lisa Hammond found enough evidence to send the case to trial. The victim’s boyfriend, Francisco Merlos, testified Friday about going to the defendant’s home Aug. 27. He said when he arrived, Juanita Gomez pulled him into the house.
He then saw the victim in a room lying on the floor on her back with her arms out — her body in the shape of a cross, he testified. He said the victim was bloody, beaten and had a crucifix laying on her chest.
“My girlfriend was unrecognizable,” he told the judge, wiping tears from his eyes. “No one wants to see your girlfriend lying there like that. ... I was gagging. I was in shock.”
The victim suffered severe trauma to her head and face, as well as bruising to her body, according to prosecutors.
Merlos testified the victim was unresponsive. He asked Juanita Gomez why she hadn’t called for help, he testified. The defendant then told him her daughter was possessed by the devil, he testified.
“She said the devil got her daughter,” he told the judge.
As he tried to leave the house, the defendant put him in a headlock, “potentially trying to kill me,” he testified. He broke free and called police after making it outside, he said.
A responding police officer also testified Friday. The officer said Juanita Gomez told him her daughter had been speaking in tongues in a demonic voice the night before and that day and had made threats.
Gomez told the officer her daughter threatened to kill her, the officer testified. The defendant said her daughter’s eyes rolled back in her head, the officer said.
Gomez also told the officer that when she turned the television to a Christian channel, the channels began to change on their own and a demonic voice came from the television, according to testimony.
Police reported Gomez attempted to clean her daughter and other items after the beating. Gomez didn’t want the “evil blood” in the house, a police detective testified Friday.
When interviewed by police, Gomez had swollen hands and several bruises on her arms. She told police the “bruises were from her daughter fighting her attempts to rid Satan from her daughter’s body,” according to a court affidavit.
Since being charged in September, Gomez’s competency to face trial has been questioned. After an evaluation in January, a forensic psychologist found she is competent and “was grossly feigning memory problems to appear incompetent.”
She has pleaded not guilty.