Daniel Gudino seemed to snap out of a trance like state immediately after shooting and stabbing his mother, she testified Thursday.
That’s when her 13-year-old son started to cry and say he was sorry, Marina Gudino told the jury at a juvenile court trial in which he is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Daniel Gudino, now 15, is accused of killing his 9-year-old brother Ulysses and wounding their mother on May 18, 2009 during a incident in the family home in the 1800 block of Chapel Hills Drive in Colorado Springs.
If found guilty, he faces incarceration in the state’s youth offender system until he turns 21.
As the trial entered its fourth day, Marina Gudino told the jurors how she was trying to plug her cell phone into a charger and make breakfast for her kids that morning when she heard an unusual noise.
She looked up and saw her son Daniel Gudino standing at the top of the stairs from the basement, leveling a .22 caliber rifle at her.
“What’s the matter with you! What are you doing?” she recalled saying moments before he fired two shots, one of which hit her in the arm. At that point, her son said nothing in reply and had a blank expression on his face, she said.
The mother said she did not realize at first that she had been shot . She described struggling to get her arms around her son after he began stabbing her first with a scissors and then with a knife until they fell to the floor.
That’s when his expression changed and he suddenly seemed to recognize that he had hurt her, she testified.
She managed to call 911. After listening to the tape on Wednesday, Marina Gudino said it was in that moment – based on what her son was saying – that she realized he also had shot Ulysses.
Immediately after Marina Gudino testified, prosecutors called Colorado Springs homicide Det. Derek Graham as a witness.
Graham interviewed Marina Gudino twice at Memorial Hospital on the day of the attack. His recall of what she had to say that day conflicted with some of her testimony from the witness stand.
For example, Graham said that the mother described how Daniel Gudino said he was sorry and asked for help between the shooting and the stabbing, not after the attack.
Graham said the mother also said she realized right away that she had been shot. He quoted her as saying that she screamed for her other two children to get out of the house, something she did not recall in her testimony.
He also said she discovered that Ulysses had been shot prior to making the 911 call. Graham said when Marina Gudino called out to Ulysses during the attack, she said Daniel replied that he had killed him.
Graham said Marina Gudino appeared to be in pain, but was not on any pain medication when he first spoke to her at the hospital.
He also said there did not appear to be any language barriers between them.
Marina Gudino speaks English and Spanish, but during the trial her testimony has been given through a Spanish interpreter.
When asked by Chief Deputy District Attorney Shannon Gerhart about her statements to Graham, Marina Gudino replied, “I remember clearly the exact moment (of the shooting) and I do not remember Daniel having spoken.”
“But what I do remember is that when I was interviewed, I was very confused about what had happened.”
Testimony continues this afternoon. Stay tuned to the Sidebar blog for updates throughout the day.
Ooohh… gosh.. I can’t even imagine the horror of waking out of what might be a trance or a sleep walk into something like this.
I honestly hope for the best for this whole family, including the kid.
This is exactly what happened in the case of comedian Phil Hartman’s death. His wife was hysterical when she finally realized she had shot him. She was screaming, “I shot Phil! Why would I do that?! There is no reason for this!” And she begged that someone would tell her children that “Mommy did not understand what happened.” She then laid down next to Phil and shot herself. Her sleepwalk state was induced by Zoloft (86% of these cases involve the use of an antidepressant & it is even worse in withdrawal) and the wrongful death suit has been settled by the makers of Zoloft. How do I know? I was the expert who worked that case.