Wife of Slain Bell Gardens Mayor Pleads Guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter

Lyvette Crespo, the wife of slain Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo Sr., has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for his September 2014 shooting death.

The plea deal includes three months in county jail, five years formal probation and 500 hours of community service.

Sentencing was set for Jan. 5.

Last month, efforts to reach a plea deal with no jail time fell apart for Lyvette Crespo, who claims she shot and killed her husband in self-defense after enduring years of abuse at his hands, her attorneys said.

"Lynette Crespo is innocent. This is a self-defense case," Lowenstein said at the time of the October hearing, alleging her husband "tortured (her) for 28 years."

Crespo was indicted by a grand jury on a voluntary manslaughter charge in the Sept. 30, 2014, shooting death of her husband.

Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators have said the mayor and his wife were arguing when their then-19-year-old son, Daniel Crespo Jr., intervened, leading to a struggle between father and son.

Lyvette Crespo claims she was protecting the couple's son when she grabbed a handgun and shot her husband, who had allegedly punched the young man in the face.

Defense attorney Eber Bayona contends that Daniel Crespo "was a man who abused not only his wife but other women" and mentally and physically abused his children.

William Crespo has denied allegations that his brother was abusive, but said the mayor had a series of extramarital affairs that angered his wife.

A civil lawsuit filed Oct. 20, 2014, by Daniel Crespo's mother alleges her daughter-in-law picked a fight with him knowing that their son would intervene, then opened a safe, grabbed a gun and killed her husband "with malice and in cold blood."