The jurors will continue their deliberations for an additional day on Friday as they consider the case against a woman charged with orchestrating the killing of her spouse, who was a well-known hairstylist, at their residence in Woodland Hills where they lived with their two children.
The jury, consisting of ten men and two women, received the case against Monica Sementilli on Wednesday. They have now been deliberating for slightly more than eight hours. The group is scheduled to return to the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Friday morning to resume their discussion.
The 53-year-old Sementilli faces charges of murder and conspiracy related to her husband Fabio’s stabbing death on January 23, 2017, which occurred in their backyard just before they were planning to mark their 20th wedding anniversary.
The murder charge encompasses the special conditions of murder committed for monetary benefit and murder carried out while ambushing the victim.
Her partner, Robert Baker, who is currently 62 years old, entered a plea of no contest in July 2023 to charges including first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Additionally, he acknowledged admitting to two special-circumstance allegations. As a result, he received a sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole—a penalty that Sementilli might also confront should she be found guilty as alleged.
During the defense’s part of the trial, Baker took the stand and asserted that the woman involved, being a mother of two, was not connected to the plot to murder her spouse. He confessed that he killed his girlfriend's husband because he "desired for her to spend all her time with me."
A third accused individual, Christopher Austin, who was employed as a parole and probation officer assisting at-risk youth in Oregon when he was arrested last year, entered a no-contest plea in January to charges of second-degree murder. He now faces a sentence ranging from 16 years to life imprisonment under the terms of a plea agreement made with the prosecution.
At the age of 39, Austin stated that his close acquaintance, Baker, informed him that Sementilli desired her spouse's death. However, Austin admitted that he never directly spoke with her regarding the incident.
When the jury concluded their discussions on Wednesday, they requested from the judge either the audio recording or a written transcript of Austin’s talk with an undercover law enforcement officer following his arrest earlier in the year. Upon summoning the jurors back to court, the judge informed them that neither the recording nor the transcript had been admitted as evidence throughout the trial proceedings.
On Thursday, in a letter to Judge Ronald Coen, the jury requested clarification regarding their mention of the specific aggravating factors related to financial gain and lying in wait within the sentencing order for Baker.
The judge stated he would address the jury to affirm this, which led Sementilli’s attorney, Leonard Levine, to unsuccessfully move for a mistrial. During a hearing conducted away from the jury, the defense counsel contended that he had informed the jurors that Baker wouldn't have accepted the plea bargain if, on the day of the plea, he were asked whether he had colluded with Sementilli; furthermore, he asserted that Baker pleaded guilty solely due to the discussions held in court during the July 2023 hearing.
The jury additionally submitted another message to the judge; however, the details within that note were not addressed during the later proceedings.
In her final remarks, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman informed the jury that "it's abundantly clear that the accused, alongside her partner, killed Fabio Sementilli with the help of Christopher Austin," adding that the motive behind the killing was "financial benefit coupled with personal reasons—essentially, to secure their future together."
She additionally asked the jury to confirm the lying-in-wait special-circumstance claim, stating that the woman’s spouse had been "attacked due to a covert strategy orchestrated by the defendant and her paramour," and noted that Austin abandoned his attempt to murder the victim the previous evening when he went to fetch food from a restaurant.
“She’s the one who destroyed so many lives and their entire family,” Silverman said.
During his final statement on Tuesday, Levine informed the jurors that his client was "culpable for numerous acts — foolishness, deceit, dishonesty, and infidelity" — yet he maintained that these did not amount to murder.
Levine stated, "She had an illicit relationship with someone who killed her spouse, but she neither committed nor planned or conspired to carry out her husband’s murder."
“She endured the consequences of her decisions — which were terrible,” argued the defense lawyer. “However, she isn’t guilty of first-degree murder, nor did she destroy a family or put her child at risk of being killed when she had the ability to prevent it all.”
Levine portrayed Baker as a " Svengali," stating that Sementilli committed "the biggest error of her life" by engaging in an extra-marital relationship with him.
Levine commented on Baker’s guilty plea and his resulting life imprisonment saying, "No positive outcome resulted from Mr. Baker, yet he will be incarcerated for the rest of his life." He continued, "Now they aim to close the loop and have her sent away as well."
During her rebuttal argument, Deputy District Attorney Heather Steggell informed the jury members, "She has been involved throughout. ... This was a scheme they orchestrated jointly."
The prosecutor stated that despite Sementilli’s arrest, she continues to show neither regret nor guilt, but only sorrow because she and Baker cannot remain together.
Since her arrest in June 2017, Sementilli has stayed incarcerated. She and Baker faced accusations of killing her spouse, and an additional conspiracy charge was later filed against them. They received indictments for these crimes approximately two months after their arrests.
Austin has also stayed in custody since his apprehension.
