Lorena Sandoval

Remembering Lorena: A victim of domestic violence

By: Courtney Roberts

Posted: 6/19/09

Karina Manlove relates through the shaky static on her cell phone the day at UNT's freshman orientation where she and Lorena Sandoval first met.

"We didn't know anybody and I talked to her from across the table and found out we had the same interests in music," she said. "We became really close friends and we had planned on opening a store."

However, Man love didn't know that her friend was going to be a victim of domestic violence.

Sandoval, 21, lived with her ex-boyfriend, Sean Kresse, 24, in an apartment on Coronado Drive. On Sept. 14, 2007, Kresse's mother called 911 from the apartment at 11:57 p.m., according to a Sept. 18 Daily article. She said she needed help and was performing CPR.

Denton police and fire departments responded and transported Sandoval to Presbyterian Hospital where she was pronounced dead on Sept. 15.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office determined in an autopsy that strangulation was the cause of death, and Kresse, who had been arrested by police at the scene for public intoxication other than alcohol, was charged with murder.

"We went in court without a jury before a judge and Sean pled guilty," said defense attorney Sarah Roland. Roland, who is representing Kresse alongside attorney Rick Hagen, said the actual trial covered only the punishment because the state and the defense could not come to an agreement. "The jury knew going in that we already pled guilty to murder. The judge read the charges and he pled guilty again," Roland said. "The only issue for the jury to describe was what the proper punishment should be."

On May 14, 2009, a jury sentenced Kresse to 50 years in prison.

Kresse's attorneys filed a motion for a new trial today to ask for a new punishment hearing.

"We believe the judge excluded a great deal of evidence that would have been relevant to a jury's determination," Roland said. "We're asking the judge for a new trial. If she denies that, it will move up the ladder in the appeals process."

At the time, Sandoval's death preceded the murder of 19-year-old Melanie Goodwin, an Arlington sophomore.

"I think it [Goodwin's death] did overshadow Lorena's. Some people will try to say it was because Lorena was Hispanic and I don't think that is necessarily true," Manlove said. "With Lorena's [death], it was more an issue of domestic violence. She knew her attacker. She was just a nice girl and he took advantage of her."

Sandoval was pursuing a bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship and planned to graduate from UNT in May 2008.