Toy box killer sane; now faces life in prison

<p>A Sonoma County jury Friday said a Santa Rosa man was sane when he stabbed the mother of his children 68 times and hid her body in a toy box.</p><p>Convicted murderer Honorio Pantaleon now faces the possibility of life in prison without parole in the slaying of Patricial Barrales, 26, when he is sentenced early next year.</p><p>Jurors deliberated for a day after reaching the verdict in the second phase of Pantaleon's trial. Last week, they found him guilty of first-degree murder and seven other felonies including torture and attempted murder.</p><p>“He just seemed to be making things up as he went along,” juror Rick Traumann of Forestville said outside the courtroom. “I didn't feel someone who was insane would have been thinking of those things.”</p><p>Pantaleon's lawyer, Jeff Mitchell, had contended Pantaleon was suffering mental illness and hearing voices in his head when he committed the gruesome killing on Mother's Day in 2008. He said the evidence was strong that Pantaleon was insane.</p><p>Pantaleon's younger brother, Jesus Pantaleon, said outside court that his brother will be denied mental health treatment if he is sent to prison.</p><p>“He has to go to a mental hospital,” the brother said, adding: “Only God knows what happened.”</p><p>Prosecutors disagreed and jurors were not persuaded by defense arguments. Deputy District Attorney Tashawn Sanders said Pantaleon was mentally competent and knew that what he was doing, pointing to his efforts to hide the murder from police and his two children, ages two and four at the time.</p><p>Judge Ken Gnoss set the next hearing in the case for Jan. 4</p>