This is not a good relationship.
"Crystal Delgado dated appellant on and off over a nine-month period from
February to November 2013." Okay, every relationship has its ups and downs.
"They fought frequently . . . ." Not good, but not necessarily unique. ". . . . often sending each other vicious
text messages. . . ." Okay, well, you definitely shouldn't do that. ". . . . and appellant once pulled Delgado’s hair." Look, when it starts to involve physical violence, that crosses what I think everyone would understand to be an unacceptable line.
"On October 24, 2013, appellant
sent Delgado a text message in which he said she would live to regret “fuckin’ with a real
gangster.” A few days later, Delgado received another text message from appellant in
which he threatened to stomp on her face, break her nose, and crack her teeth."
Not good. Not good at all.
"In early November 2013 Delgado planned a trip to San Diego with friends to serve
drinks at a bachelor party. Appellant did not want her to go, and left a message on
Delgado’s voice mail threatening that if she “went to San Diego, he was going to kill
[her].” Sometime before attending the party, Delgado posted on social media that she
was single, which she later told police appellant had taken personally as indicating
disrespect toward him."
Now he's threatening to kill her. You have to know things are bad at that point. Really, incredibly bad.
"The day Delgado returned home from the party she found her room ransacked and
empty of all of her belongings—only the furniture remained. The television had been
pulled from the wall mount, and her laptop, her bedsheets, most of her clothing, and other
personal items had all been removed. There were no signs of a break-in. Delgado
suspected appellant had burglarized her room with help from her cousin Lexi, who lived
in the house with Delgado and Delgado’s mother."
Classy. Taking every piece of property from your (former?) partner. Wow.
"Delgado played several voice mail messages she had received from appellant for
the police. In one message, appellant said he was coming right over and threatened to
kill Delgado if she didn’t pick up the phone. In another voice message, appellant told Delgado he was going to hide out until he caught her, and declared, “No one’s ever gonna
want to fucking see your face, eh. I’m gonna fuck it up, eh. I’m gonna fuck you up, you
fucking piece of shit.” Appellant also threatened Delgado’s mother: “You fucking gonna
go to a fucking bachelor party, fucker? Fucking piece of shit. Just watch what we do to
your mom when she comes home from work.” Finally, appellant threatened to “seriously
hurt” Delgado. Delgado told the police she was afraid of appellant because he was an
active Jim Town gang member and she believed he would kill her."
And to think I thought it couldn't get worse.
"Later that day, appellant called Delgado and admitted he had taken her property.
He promised to return her property if she would agree to meet with him. They met at
Guirado Park and appellant got into the front passenger seat of Delgado’s car. Producing
a foot-long metal pipe from his jacket, appellant struck Delgado on the head and arms.
Appellant switched seats with Delgado and drove around for several hours before taking
Delgado to his house where he lived with his mother and sister."
Sweet Jesus.
"They went to a Knights Inn in Pico Rivera, a Pico Viejo gang hangout well outside
of Jim Town gang territory to spend the night. Appellant offered to return Delgado’s
property to her for $500. . . Delgado went to the restroom and texted her mother. She told her mother she was with
appellant and she was hurt. She instructed her mother to agree to pay appellant $500 for
the return of her property when appellant called. . . . Appellant and Delgado left Vasquez’s home and drove back to appellant’s house
where they spent the night. There, appellant made a video recording on his cell phone of
Delgado in which he told her to say appellant had not taken her clothes and she was not
being held against her will."
It just gets worse and worse.
Thankfully, Ms. Delgado does not ultimately get killed. Which is where I was worried that this one might end. Instead, eventually, on some future day, she calls 911 when she's being followed by Mr. Franklin, and the police discover all of these events and arrest Mr. Franklin. And he's ultimately convicted.
Oh, yeah. One more thing. "At trial, Delgado claimed to have no memory of the events related to this case,
and the prosecution presented Detective Steven Lopez’s account of the facts underlying
the case as related to him in an interview of Delgado on November 14, 2013."
So sad.
