Pantaleon guilty in grisly killing; sanity phase next

<p>A Sonoma County jury Friday delivered guilty verdicts on all charges against a Santa Rosa man accused of stabbing his girlfriend 68 times and hiding her body in their children's toy box.</p><p>Honorio Pantaleon, 32, showed no emotion as the court clerk read the findings that came on the third day of deliberations.</p><p>Jurors will return Monday to hear additional testimony in the second phase of the trial to determine whether Pantaleon was sane when he killed Patricia Barrales, 26, in their Rincon Valley apartment.</p><p>If jurors find he was mentally incompetent, he could be sentenced to a mental institution rather than life in prison without parole. The second phase is expected to run about a week.</p><p>“We all know he's not right,” said his younger brother, Jesus Pantaleon. “I think they should help him instead of putting him some place where he will get worse.”</p><p>The victim's family was not in court.</p><p>Pantaleon was convicted of killing Barrales on Mother's Day in 2008 in a quarrel over her plans to leave him. The couple had two children, ages 2 and 4, who were believed to be home at the time of the slaying.</p><p>Prosecutors charged him with eight counts and multiple enhancements such as torture, the attempted murder of Barrales' mother and child abuse.</p><p>At trial, which lasted 17 days, experts testified about Barrales' numerous stab wounds, which included some superficial cuts made while she was still alive. Her head was nearly severed and a kitchen knife was found buried in one eye.</p><p>Additional testimony came from family members on both sides. Pantaleon's oldest son testified through closed circuit TV that he saw his father stab his mother in the stomach and then close the door on the room where her body was later found. Pantaleon emerged with bloody clothes, the son said.</p><p>After the killing, Pantaleon fled with his children to the family home in Kelseyville and drove to Ukiah to try to kill Isabel Barrales, his girlfriend's mother. He tried to shoot her with a rifle but the gun would not go off so he hit her with it instead.</p><p>A man who prosecutors said bought bullets for Pantaleon but refused to testify remains in jail on possible contempt charges.</p><p>Throughout the trial, defense attorney Mitchell conceded Pantaleon killed Patricia Barrales. But he said Pantaleon did it because he was suffering mental illness worsened by past drug use and a low IQ that made him prone to sudden violence. Pantaleon said in depositions that he believed Barrales' family was out to get him and that her mother put snakes in his stomach.</p><p>Mitchell said in the second phase he would call a psychologist who previously testified Pantaleon was a paranoid schizophrenic.</p><p>“The question is, whether due to his mental illness he knew or could appreciate the nature and quality of his actions and whether he knew right from wrong,” Mitchell said. </p><p>But prosecutors said they were confident they will show Pantaleon knew what he was doing.</p><p>“We're happy the jury agreed with us that he tortured his cohabitant and that it was a premeditated killing,” said Assistant District Attorney Diana Gomez. “We're hopeful they will find him sane at conclusion of the sanity phase.”</p><p>Pantaleon, a former vineyard worker and three-time deportee, has served time in state prison for a gang-related conviction.</p>