New trial begins for Erika Sandoval, accused of murdering officer ex-husband

Updated 1 minute ago
TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- This week marks 10 years since former Exeter police officer Daniel Green was killed.

His ex-wife, Erika Sandoval, was arrested in March 2015 and charged with his murder.

Investigators say she shot and killed Green after breaking into his Goshen home on February 6, 2015.

Sandoval is now returning to court for a second trial after a hung jury led to a mistrial back in December 2019.

At the time, Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said, "This is justice delayed in our mind. We feel the evidence is strong and we are going to proceed with the same theory that we had.. This is justice delayed not denied. "



On Monday, after a long morning of jury selection and several witnesses waiting hours in the courthouse lobby to take the stand, everyone was sent home for the day.

Sandoval is being represented by a Public Defender this time around. Her previous lawyer was a private attorney.

Action News spoke with him after the first trial when just one of the 12 jurors was against a murder conviction.

"I think it's a person that legitimately had their own view of the evidence and that's why it has to be a unanimous verdict," says Dan Chambers, Sandoval's Previous Defense Attorney.

During the first trial, there were dozens of witnesses, hours of audio and video recordings, and shocking twists, including when Sandoval testified she found child sex abuse material in Green's safe minutes before she shot him to death.



The DA's office says the photos were never found... while the defense argued other images corroborated Sandoval's story.

"We were trying Ms. Sandoval for the murder of Mr. Green and it seemed at times this trial took a different turn and that was almost trying to murder the memory of Mr. Green. And I can only imagine how tough that was for his family to have to sit and listen to that," says Ward.

All evidence will be presented again and the DA's office expects this trial to be more than two months long.

Sandoval will be in court on Thursday when the second trial is set to begin.

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