Wife Of Slain Bell Gardens Mayor Indicted On Manslaughter Charge; Pleads Not Guilty

"From day one I have told you Mrs. Crespo was a battered women, an abused woman." Attorney Eber Bayona stands before cameras in Downtown Los Angeles, says he doesn't want his client's case tried in the media and then preceeds to describe Lyvette Crespo was a woman who "suffered from battered woman syndrome."

Mrs. Crespo and Bayona were ordered to court Thursday morning for the unsealing of a grand jury indictment in which she was accused of "voluntary manslaughter" and personally discharging the handgun that killed her husband back in September.

Mrs. Crespo's lawyer, looking into the cameras promises to unveil "ugly facts about Mayor Daniel Crespo."

He says, "To the outside world Daniel Crespo was a great mayor. A great community leader, but he was also an abusive husband. This is the man who took his wife's face and shoved it into a computer screen when she was looking at an assemblymember after his election."

Just a few hours earlier, Daniel Crespo's brother Willie met with reporters to say he was generally satisfied with the charges against his sister-in-law. He said she killed him and deserves to spend time in jail

He repeated that contention Thursday, and said Daniel Crespo "was a man who abused not only his wife but other women'' and mentally and physically abused his children."From the beginning, from day one, I have told you that Mrs. Crespo was a battered woman, an abused woman,'' Bayona said. "And at trial, she will avail herself of self-defense, defense of others and the battered-woman's syndrome.''

He said her family plans to do everything they can to free Crespo on bail.

"I want to ask the public to maintain an open mind and to wait until all the evidence has been presented before they make a final opinion about what happened,'' Bayona said. "I'm asking you not to try Miss Crespo in the media.''