Madonna found guilty of first-degree murder

Joanna Madonna showed little emotion as the seven men and five women on the jury affirmed their verdict of guilty of first-degree murder.

The former Wake County teacher’s oldest daughter broke down in tears, crying so loudly that she had to leave the courtroom.

Madonna, 48, offered few words when the judge asked her if she had anything to say before he sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility for parole in the murder of Jose Perez, her husband. She thanked the jury and judge for their time and stopped there.

That was counter to her actions last week, when she testified in her defense for nearly two days.

The verdict shortly before 5 p.m. came on a day when Deborah Shandles, an assistant Wake County district attorney, and Deonte’ Thomas, a Wake County public defender, stitched together evidence and testimony from nine days into concise closing arguments.

The defense announced plans to appeal.

Jose Perez’s daughter sobbed as she told Judge Henry Hight before sentencing that much had been taken from her, her children and the family.

The jury went behind closed doors early Monday afternoon and, for the first time since the beginning of the trial on Sept. 15, could decide whether Madonna acted with malice when killing her husband Jose Perez or or whether she killed the 64-year-old man while defending herself during an altercation over her desire to get out of their marriage.

Prosecutors argued that Madonna is a chronic liar who continued the pattern during her testimony.

“All of that blah, blah blah…,” Shandles argued, “didn’t fit the evidence.”

For slightly longer than an hour, Shandles pointed out numerous inconsistencies in Madonna’s testimony and details from police reports and other witness testimony.

Madonna, Shandles pointed out, testified that she was wearing a T-shirt and capris pants when she returned from the violence with her husband, but her daughter testified that she was wearing shorts and a tank top.

The prosecutor contended that Madonna planned to kill her husband and even took a change of clothes with her before the crime.

Jose Perez was found lifeless in a ditch near Falls Lake in northern Wake County on Father’s Day weekend in June 2013.

Madonna testified that she slashed her husband with a knife, but said she picked up the blade and swung at him after he pushed her to the ground, got on top of her and used his arm to keep her from getting up.

Madonna, though, had few injuries a couple of days later when police took pictures of her body.

Madonna testified that Perez, a recovering alcoholic with many health issues, had lied to her about having a trust fund in Peurto Rico, about cancer and more. She said she thought he had been drinking and using drugs and lying to her about that. She also said she suspected him of having an affair with a woman in Florida.

Madonna said that on a Saturday in mid-June 2013, she took Perez out for a drive to tell him she wanted to end their marriage. She said she wanted to have that discussion, and then drop him off at the home of his sponsor from Alcoholics Anonymous, who lived north of their Wake County neighborhood.

During that trip, Madonna said, Perez told her he did not want their marriage to end and that if he could not have her as his wife he did not want to live.

She said she pulled over twice during that trip and that violence occurred during both stops. Madonna said Perez was shot during a struggle over a handgun that he had pointed at her and then turned on himself.

During that stop, Madonna said, the gun went off and Perez was wounded in the cheek. The bullet shattered his dentures and left a large wound in his jaw area.

Madonna said she and Perez argued about which hospital she would take him to for treatment. She also said she did not call emergency dispatchers because she had left her phone at home charging in the bedroom.

Shandles said only two people know what happened during that ride. They contended Madonna had fabricated a story.

Madonna lied to police during the early part of their investigation into Perez’s death. She told investigators that Perez had left their home in the Wakefield neighborhood with a suitcase, headed for Florida.

But investigators found many of his belongings in garbage bags at the home.

Deonte’ Thomas, one of two Wake County public defenders who represented Madonna, told jurors in his closing arguments on Monday that Madonna should have “picked up the phone and called police.”

“If she had done that one simple thing, would we even be here right now?” Thomas asked.

Thomas argued that Perez’s health might “have looked bad on paper.” But he contended Perez was strong enough to attack his wife.

Thomas knocked back contentions from prosecutors that Madonna killed her husband, expecting financial gains.

Madonna made “the wrong call,” Thomas argued.

“We heard over and over that Ms. Madonna had a pattern of making the wrong call,” Thomas said recounting her struggles with alcohol and drug abuse and multiple failed marriages.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Madonna found guilty of first-degree murder."