The Scent of Sex

Steve Ballesteros, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend Maria Priscilla Perez, was sentenced to 80 years in the state penitentiary.

There was a litany of defense testimony in the sentencing phase of his trial trying to portray him as a family man suddenly provoked by the post-coital scent of another man on his girlfriend. He was convicted of murder, so the central issue was whether the act was committed out of sudden passion.

Aaron Moncibaiz, a prosecutor, reminded the jury of Ballesteros’ domestic violence months before the murder, such as breaking into Perez’s apartment after being locked out. The fact that the couple had previously smelled each other for unfaithful sex, he said, did not mean he snapped, but that the frustration only escalated until April 12, 2012.

“So what’s different about this case than prior instances?” Moncibaiz said. “Why didn’t he snap then?”

The defense brought on several family members, such as Ballesteros’ mother, to testify against the notion of a violent relationship. A successful verdict of sudden passion would have significantly reduced his sentence, along with the dismissal of two enhancements—attempted burglaries in 1988 and 1989.

A shorter sentence contrasted with evidence presented earlier to the court. A recorded interview with Lubbock Police Detective Zack Johnson was presented to the court last Thursday. It captures a murderer’s lament and struggle to kill himself in the hours after Perez’s murder.

On the evening of April 12, 2012, Ballesteros said he was waiting for Perez to come home from her job at the Monterey High School cafeteria. He said her shift ended at 3 p.m., but she didn’t arrive until two hours later.

He told Johnson about his anger: numerous calls from other men and the birth of illegitimate twins during their relationship. Her tardiness that evening, he confessed, was where he drew the line.

“She couldn’t be late,” Ballesteros said. “She was supposed to get off at three.”

When she got out of the car, he said he confronted her and demanded to smell her vagina for a scent of sex. To settle the altercation, he said she acquiesced and followed him to their bedroom.

“When I smelt her,” Ballesteros said, “I lunged at her.”

He was choking on his tears during the interview, conveying self-contempt for his crime and emphasizing how it was premeditated.  Ballesteros wasn’t read his Miranda rights before questioning, Johnson testified, because Johnson was taken aback by his sobbing.

In the video, Ballesteros said he left Perez’s corpse in the bedroom after strangulation and told the children to let her sleep. After leaving the house, he said he took Perez’s car and eventually made his way to Buffalo Springs Lake. He said was trying to reach a cliff he had remembered while contemplating suicide.

“There’s a cliff there,” Ballesteros said. “If you drive fast enough, you can kill yourself.”

He said he was deterred by the guardrails on the side of the road, an obstacle between him and a sheer drop to death.

Ballesteros further told police he was awake all night, confessing to relatives on the phone and asking forgiveness. When told by them to take responsibility, he said he loathed a death penalty as punishment.

“What does it matter; they’re just going to give me the death penalty,” Ballesteros said.

Despite this, he said his abortive attempt at the lake gave him a new resolve—a deadly crash while police pursed him. To do this, he said he returned to the crime scene on the morning of April 13, shouting, “Come get me!” as he drove by the duplex.

“I was hoping they would chase me,” he said, “so I could run into something. But I forgot about the airbags.”

He said his reckless driving caused him to crash into another car, and his threats of having a gun were a trick to get killed by the surrounding officers.

Tommy Prumer, a police officer who subdued Ballesteros during his last stand, testified he did not see any weapon on Ballesteros. Pruner said this made the officers reluctant to open fire, prompting a non-lethal takedown.

Perez’s brother, Jesse Tovar, who spoke on behalf of the victim’s impact statement, said the sentence was what he deserved for the harm he did to Perez’s family.

“What you did has put a toll on me,” Tovar said. “Whatever sentence you get will not ever compare to the sentence you gave her and her four children.”