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Paso Robles woman convicted of second-degree murder

December 16, 2014
Maria Fajardo

Maria Fajardo

A San Luis Obispo jury convicted an alleged jealous lover of second-degree murder in the death of her ex-boyfriend. [Tribune]

Maria del Carmen Granados Fajardo of Paso Robles faced a first-degree murder charge, but the jury opted to convict her of the lesser count on Monday. Fajardo also received convictions of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors accused the Paso Robles woman of paying to have her former lover, Victor Hugo Sanchez, brutally injured on multiple occasions after he became entangled with other women. In Feb. 2013, assailants who were allegedly tasked with shooting Sanchez in the knee ended up killing him.

Fajardo told investigators that another former lover of Sanchez arranged the murder. As proof, she showed a letter Sanchez received from a female jail inmate that said she would harm him if he found another lover while incarcerated.

But, one of the alleged co-conspirators, Christine Garner, agreed to testify in the case for a reduced sentence. Garner testified that Fajardo paid her and her husband to injure Sanchez on two occasions.

Garner described in her testimony an Oct. 2012 incident in which she participated in an attack on Sanchez. The beating left Sanchez with a broken arm and several cuts, but it did not satisfy Fajardo.

Fajardo then paid to have someone shoot him in the kneecaps, Garner testified.

After the shooting ended up killing Sanchez, several of the alleged accomplices escaped. Garner fled to Mexico with her husband.

Authorities arrested Garner in Mexico, but her husband evaded capture. Three other at-large suspects are also believed to be hiding in Mexico.

Prosecutors remain unsure why the shooting turned fatal.

Fajardo is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on Jan. 22. She faces 15 years to life for the second-degree murder conviction and up to nine years for the other counts.


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The statement: “Maria del Carmen Granados Fajardo of Paso Robles faced a first-degree

murder charge, but the jury opted to convict her of the lesser count on Monday. Fajardo also

received convictions of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.” is not correct. I was a

member of the jury for this case from Day 1, I sat in the jury booth as one of the first eighteen juror candidates, and we did not have the option to charge her with First Degree Murder. Our option for this charge was always either “Guilty of the Charge of Second Degree Murder”, or “Not Guilty of the Charge of Second Degree Murder”. It was probably quoted from another

source, and her attorney said numerous inaccurate things during the trial and after the trial

ended. I speak the truth. I was there everyday we were in session from the first day of the

selection process, until we reached the verdict.


I just wanted to clarify that, and I was on the jury. Thank you.


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Fajardo should immediately sent to Mexico to join her co-conspirators.


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Just good hard working folks that come north looking for work.


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