DA’s Office: Salinas man sentenced to prison for injuring woman, threatening to kill her

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) A Salinas man was sentenced to prison in connection to a domestic violence incident that the Monterey County District Attorney's Office said involved severely injuring a woman and threatening to kill her.

The man, 53-year-old Heriberto Medina, will spend five years in prison after pleading no contest to felony domestic violence with an enhancement for personally inflicting great bodily injury.

Investigators said that in October 2019, witnesses heard the victim screaming for help and called 911. One person said they saw Medina on top of the woman in a vehicle, but he left the area when he saw the witness.

The woman told the witness that Medina had a knife and had been strangling her, and investigators said she was bleeding heavily with one of her eyes swollen shut.

Salinas police used Medina's cell phone to find him and said he was hiding under an RV. When he was arrested, police said he told officers that he hit the woman, but denied strangling her or using weapons.

Police said Medina admitted that he threatened to kill her and said he "would have done it."

The conviction is considered a violent strike under California's Three Strikes Law.

Anyone experiencing domestic violence is asked to call the YWCA at 831-372-6300 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.