Yolanda Saldivar Trial: 1995

Defendant: Yolanda Saldivar
Crime Charged: Murder
Chief Defense Lawyer: Doug Tinker
Chief Prosecutor Carlos Valdez
Judge: Mike Westergren
Place: Houston, Texas
Date of Trial: October 11-23, 1995
Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: Life in prison with possibility of parole in 30 years

SIGNIFICANCE: The fate of a popular music star's killer hung on one question: Was she a suicidal woman accidentally shooting the object of her adoration, or was she a coldblooded murderer playing the blame game?

By age 23, Selena Quintanilla Perez had taken the Tex-Mex world of Tejano music by storm. Known simply as "Selena," the pretty, diminutive singer with the big voice and squeaky-clean image was poised to take her popular, award-winning sound into the American mainstream. But her violent death at the hands of the woman who organized Selena's fan club and whom the young singer called "mother" bitterly ended those dreams.

A Rising Star

Was Selena's death on March 31, 1995, a cold-blooded murder or was it a tragic accident? This became the consuming question not only for the Tejano (Spanish word for Texas) music world, centered largely in Corpus Christi where Selena lived and died, but ultimately in the trial of Yolanda Saldivar.

Saldivar came into Selena's life in 1991, when the mousy registered nurse approached Selena's manager/father Abraham for his blessing to organize the Selena Fan Club. He agreed.

For the next few years, Selena's career blossomed as did the unusually strong bond between Saldivar and the singer. Saldivar tended to Selena's every personal whim and many of her professional needs, eventually controlling access to Selena for everyone but family members. In 1993, Selena named Saldivar manager of her Corpus Christi fashion boutique, Selena, Etc. The shop, one of two that marketed Selena's fashion designs, was the singer's personal creative outlet, one off limits to her controlling father. Or so she thought.

Abraham Quintanilla had directed his daughter's career with a strong hand since she was nine years old. Selena first sang as part of a family band her restaurateur father created, Selena y Los Dinos. Quintanilla knocked on closed doors, dogged reluctant record companies, and took Selena out of school in eighth grade to concentrate on a music career. Selena won awards and signed a recording contract with EMI Latin. In 1992, she married a guitarist in her band, Chris Perez. Meanwhile, Saldivar's feelings for Selena progressed from adoring to obsessive. She even gave her an egg-shaped diamond ring.

Selena's talent, good looks, and hard work brought her a dedicated following, but her fame was largely limited to regional Spanish-American audiences. Quintanilla decided to change that. He just had to overcome a few obstacles, including Yolanda Saldivar.

Killing Follows Embezzlement Accusations

Rumors had circulated among boutique staff about Saldivar's mismanagement of money since Selena had elevated her to boutique manager. Bills went unpaid. Books appeared cooked. Saldivar had a record of stealing money from a previous employer and had not paid back loans for nursing school. Selena refused to believe that her faithful confidant was embezzling; Quintanilla was convinced and furious about it.

On March 9, 1995, he confronted Saldivar, demanding to know where missing money had gone not only from the boutique but from the fan club. Saldivar had no answers. Quintanilla threatened to pursue the matter legally.

In response, Saldivar bought a. 38-caliber revolver from a gunstore in San Antonio where she lived. Saldivar claimed she bought the gun to protect herself from Quintanilla, who had trumped up the embezzlement charges to get rid of her. During the trial, the defense contended Saldivar bought the weapon to kill herself. She actually had put the gun to her head to do so when Selena arrived at her Days Inn room in Corpus Christi. But in a terrible turn of events, Saldivar accidentally shot the singer instead.

In his opening statement to jurors, court-appointed defense attorney Doug "The Stinker" Tinker said that as Selena entered the hotel room, Saldivar motioned with the hand in which she held the gun for Selena to shut the door. As the singer turned to do so, the gun accidentally discharged. A single bullet struck Selena in the back near the right shoulder.

Trial Focuses on Shooting Aftermath

The prosecution claimed Saldivar deliberately shot Selena as she attempted to flee Room 158. The state claimed Selena had finally been convinced that Saldivar was stealing from her. Selena had come to the motel to fire her employee.

What happened immediately after the shot rang out became fodder for national news media as well as a key question in the murder trial. (Sensational pre-trial publicity led presiding Judge Mike Westergren to issue a gag order, relocate the trial to Houston, and ban television cameras in the courtroom.)

Hotel desk clerk Shawna Vela described how Selena ran into the hotel lobby just after noon that cloudy day, leaving a 390-foot trail of blood. She testified that Selena screamed, "She shot me. She's in room 158. Lock the door or she'll shoot me again." The last word on Selena's lips before she collapsed was "Yolanda." She held in her hand the diamond ring Saldivar given her. Selena apparently had taken the ring off her finger to return to Saldivar.

Selena died less than two hours later on the operating table at a nearby hospital, where she had been rushed after the shooting. Meanwhile, Saldivar ran to the red GMC pick-up she had borrowed from her nephew for the trip from San Antonio. She drove the truck to the hotel lobby and parked there. As police arrived, she put the gun to her head. She held police at bay for nearly 10 hours. She begged hostage negotiators to shoot her before surrendering.

Days Inn housekeeper Norma Martinez testified for the prosecution how a bloody Selena fled the hotel room as Saldivar ran after her, pointing the gun at the singer and yelling "bitch!" The defense attacked Martinez's testimony, noting that she embellished her story with the accusation that Saldivar yelled "bitch." Martinez, a convicted thief, said she hadn't wanted to use a curse word when giving police her statement.

Tinker also doggedly chipped away at Vela's testimony and that of other hotel employees. Tinker was able to uncover testimony contradictions, but his point seemingly was lost. Every witness painted a picture of Saldivar as a ranting murderess relentlessly pursuing her prey.

The defense claimed the shooting was provoked by Selena's overbearing father, then covered up by overzealous Corpus Christi police doing sloppy work. Prosecutors accused Tinker of using "the squid defense," spreading ink about anyone but the predator herself. If Saldivar had shot Selena accidentally, why didn't she call 911 instead of the motel manager? Why didn't she run after Selena and try to help her after the shooting?

The prosecution presented 122 exhibits and called on 33 witnesses, including the hotel employees. Selena, Etc. staff asserted Saldivar was stealing from the business. Quintanilla family members told of the deteriorating relationship between Selena and her business associate.

The defense presented only five witnesses: three hotel employees; Saldivar's seventh-grade teacher, and the policeman who took Saldivar's confession. Tinker asked investigator Paul Rivera why he didn't consider audiotapes made between police and Yolanda when she held them at bay in her nephew's truck after the shooting. Rivera said he didn't know about them.

The audiotapes stand out as the most riveting portion of the trial. For five hours, police taped exchanges between their negotiators and a distraught, crying and wailing Saldivar as she held them at bay. She alleged Abraham Quintanilla hated her, spread rumors she was a lesbian and a thief, and had raped her. On tape she cried, "I did something very bad. I have disgraced my family." As the audio played in court, Saldivar sobbed.

Tinker claimed that the tapes proved Saldivar's confession was coerced. The tapes showed Saldivar told the truth when she claimed the shooting was accidental, a fact not mentioned in the confession. The prosecution said the tapes only proved that Saldivar was an unstable person and a pathological liar. The defense countered that before the police began recording the negotiations leading to Saldivar's surrender, she had said several times that she did not mean to shoot Selena. Prosecutor Carlos Valdez established that Saldivar never said the shooting was accidental until negotiator Larry Young suggested it.

Judge Westergren instructed the jury to consider only murder, as both sides had agreed. The prosecution wanted to placate public outrage by going for the toughest charge. The defense decided Saldivar's chances for acquittal rested on an all-or-nothing trial. The jury took only two hours to find Saldivar guilty. Although Tinker argued for probation, Saldivar received the maximum punishment of life in prison with no chance of parole until 2030.

In December 1995, Judge Westergren denied Saldivar's bid for a new trial. Saldivar appealed to the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston, which unanimously affirmed her conviction on October 1, 1998.

—B. J. Welborn

Suggestions for Further Reading

Day, Jim, and Mary Lee Grant. "Murder Conviction Upheld in Selena Case; Court Says Evidence Strong Against Saldivar." Corpus Christi Caller Times Online (October 2, 1998).

Patoski, Joe Nick. Selena Como La Flor. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

Reinert, Patty. "Saldivar, Convicted in Murder of Selena, Seeking Retrial." Houston Chronicle Online:1995.