Quintero trial continues, alleged murderer takes the stand

The defense began their case Friday with the alleged murderer taking the stand.

Oscar Quintero detailed his relationship with the mother of his children. He said the two met when Clarissa Medina was 16 years old. After being friends and seeing each other more and more, he claimed the two began dating.

In September 2011, Medina gave birth to their first child. Quintero claimed he did not know about the child until September because they had not seen each other in person for six months but were texting.

He added Medina was afraid to introduce him to her family, but eventually she did.

He said the two moved in with his family in 2012 and had their second daughter in 2016.

When the defense asked how his relationship with was, if there were any problems, he said they were good. Quintero said they were in a reasonable time of their relationship up until Medina got a new job doing physical therapy.

Quintero said after her new job, she started inviting a lot of new friends over to hang out and drink. He said Medina began to staying over at friends house a lot in which he was okay with at first, but then it became more frequent.

Quintero also detailed the times he saw Medina after their breakup, just two months before the murder. He said they met five to six times in November 2017 and even met the day before the shooting that left Medina dead.

The alleged murdered then detailed what he remembered from the night he shot dead the mother of his children.

Oscar Quintero said he believed he shot Clarissa Medina first on January 3, 2018.

” I never intended to hurt anybody or take anybody’s life, ” testified Quintero.

He detailed the events that led to the shots being fired.

He explained he was going about his day until around 8 p.m. when he decided to go to the Somerton Aalley Center plaza to get churros .

He said he sat in his car that was parked in the back parking lot thinking. He claimed he was hoping to hear from Medina so they could meet up, something he said they did on several occasions even though they were not living together anymore.

He said he then walked to the front of the shopping center and noticed Medina in the car with the other victim.

That is when the deadly interaction began.

Quintero said he confronted Medina, in part asking, ” Are you seriously *expletive* around with this guy Clarissa? ”

He claimed she responded, ” Yes Oscar. Seriously. ”

This goes against what witnesses, as well as the victim that survived the gunshot to the face, testified about there being anything romantic going on between Medina and the other victim.

Oscar then told the jury he had a gun in his car because he tried selling it in Yuma just hours before the shooting.

Quintero explained he could not just run away from what he had done.

” I was an educator. I believe in the laws. I thought it was the right thing to do, ” testified Quintero.

State prosecutors displayed graphic photos of Medina’s lifeless body while questioning Quintero. The pictures showed gunshot wounds and other scrapes found on Medina.

The trial will continue Wednesday.