Caro Can Use Some Assets

A Ventura County judge loosened the purse strings on murder defendant Socorro “Cora” Caro’s assets Wednesday, but refused at this time to let her tap a million-dollar family estate to pay for her criminal defense.

Judge John R. Smiley allowed Cora Caro, accused of fatally shooting three of her children in November, to sell off property, jewels and an antique doll collection valued at about $190,000.

But Smiley would not authorize the sale of Cora Caro’s and her husband’s Santa Rosa Valley home or other community assets that she wants to use to pay an estimated $500,000 in legal costs.

The ruling marks the first step in what is expected to be a long and messy divorce case. The request for money has infuriated Cora Caro’s husband, who last month filed divorce papers and a wrongful death lawsuit against his 38-year-old wife.

In a sworn declaration filed last week, Dr. Xavier Caro called his wife’s demands for money “obscene and outrageous.”

Xavier Caro, 52, a prominent Northridge physician, stated in court papers that he is “grief-stricken” and on any given day nearly immobilized by the pain of losing his three oldest sons, ages 5, 8 and 11. Although he is now living in a hotel room with his surviving 16-month-old son, Gabriel, the father wants to move into a Granada Hills home he purchased before his marriage. The doctor returned home from work Nov. 22 to find three of his children dead from gunshot wounds to the head.

Xavier Caro told authorities he found his wife of 13 years lying in the master bedroom, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. She has undergone two surgeries and is using a wheelchair.

Last month, Cora Caro was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation that makes her eligible for the death penalty, though Ventura County prosecutors have not indicated whether they will seek it. She has not entered a plea and is scheduled to appear for an arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court on Tuesday.

Cora Caro is not employed and has no income but does not qualify for a public defender because of the wealth shared with her husband. The couple own a five-bedroom ridge-top home in the Santa Rosa Valley near Camarillo that is valued at $900,000 and riverfront property in Stanislaus County valued at about $180,000.

Those properties are among the assets Cora Caro’s lawyers are going after to help pay her legal costs in the pending murder case.

But after listening to the couple’s lawyers argue at length during Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Smiley denied a request to immediately divide the community property.