YOLO COUNTY, Calif. — Paul Perez showed no emotion standing behind the glass cage in Yolo County courtroom Tuesday afternoon. The 57-year-old did not even show emotion as the judge read the charges he’s facing: five counts of murder and four counts assault on a child, in addition to special circumstances of lying in wait, torture and multiple victims.
The court hearing did not take long. Perez, who is accused of killing five of his infant children between 1992 and 2001, pleaded not guilty to all nine counts and was denied bail.
Outside of the courthouse, one of Perez’s relatives, who did not want to be identified, told ABC10 that she has not spoken to her cousin in more than 15 years.
She said Perez has two older children in their 30s who have been estranged from their father for a long time. She said she’s following the case because of the children, little cousins she’ll never meet.
“There’s no excuse for that,” said the cousin of Perez’s charges. “And like I said, if he’s convicted, then he needs to burn. That’s the way I feel.”
However, Perez’s defense attorney, Tracie Olsen, said she’s still trying to figure out how prosecutors are connecting the infants’ deaths to Perez.
“I didn’t hear any evidence in the press conference, as to what the evidence could be against my client,” Olsen said. “I think the obvious question that I have, as I suspect everyone would have, is where’s the mom in this?”
Perez has a lengthy criminal record dating back to at least 1990 when he was sentenced in Merced County to two years for assault with intent to commit sex offense. He was later arrested in 2002 in Kern County and sentenced to a nearly three-year sentence for vehicle theft.
He was paroled in February 2006 but went back to prison a month later. He spent the next two years being placed on parole and having his parole revoked. He finished his sentence December 2008.
In August 2010, Perez was sentenced in Yolo County to seven years and four months for vehicle theft and evading police while driving recklessly. Four years later, while serving his sentence, Perez received an additional four years from Kern County for possession or manufacturing a deadly weapon in prison.
He was slated to be released to Yolo County for community supervision on Jan. 27, 2020.
Perez’s next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 10 in Yolo County.
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