Jury Deliberates Fate Of Husband Accused In Wife's Shooting Death

LA QUINTA, CA — Jury deliberations got underway Tuesday in the trial of a 34-year-old man accused of gunning down his estranged wife at a mobile home park in La Quinta while inflamed over notions she was having affairs with other men.

Jose Valles Meza of La Quinta is charged with first-degree murder, a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations for the slaying of Patricia Cesena, also of La Quinta, in 2019.

The prosecution rested Monday, and the defense made a brief presentation before wrapping up Tuesday morning, culminating in closing statements by both sides at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, where Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Hawkins sent jurors behind closed doors mid- afternoon. They deliberated briefly before breaking for the day.

Hawkins ordered the panel to recommence deliberations Wednesday morning.

Meza is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.

The defendant allegedly killed Cesena in the Dune Palms Mobile Estates at 46400 Dune Palms Road in the predawn hours of Jan. 27, 2019, obsessed with the idea she was seeing other men, according to evidence from a 2020 preliminary hearing,

While his and his estranged wife's four children slept, Meza allegedly fired into the home through a bedroom window, fatally wounding the woman, according to sheriff's investigators.

The defendant fled the location, driving south into Imperial County, where he was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer on suspicion of speeding and drunken driving, according to prosecutors.

While being booked into jail, Meza blurted out that he had "witnessed a murder," according to CHP Officer Michael Bernardino.

After inquiring further, the officer was able to ascertain where the shooting had occurred, and deputies were sent to the mobile home in La Quinta to conduct a welfare check shortly before 6 a.m., roughly three hours after the alleged attack. Investigator Martin Alfaro testified that Cesena was discovered dead from a single gunshot to the head. Her kids were still sleeping when deputies entered the residence.

Investigator Armando Munoz testified that one of the kids, identified only as an 8-year-old girl, told detectives that her parents often fought and that cameras had been placed throughout the home so her father could spy on Cesena, believing he might catch her in an act of infidelity.

Meza has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.