One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Defendants in Peach Queen Slashing Attack Plead Guilty
Photo by Graça Victoria via Shutterstock
Four women pleaded guilty in court yesterday to jumping Banning's 2005 "Peach Queen" and slashing her face with box cutters.After the attack in 2008, the beauty queen Shanice Wilson was left with permanent scars that required plastic surgery, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
As the fight ended, Wilson remembered one of the attackers Azia Aldred saying, "Now every time she sees her face in the mirror, she'll remember me."
Aldred pleaded guilty to felony mayhem and assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The other women involved, Erica Bastidas, Labrea Steward and Ariana Atkins, pleaded guilty to felony assault causing great bodily injury. Bastidas got seven years, while Steward and Atkins got six years in prison.
The motive? Wilson thought it was because she was drop-dead gorgeous, but detectives believe that Bastidas' suspicion that Wilson was having an affair with her husband led to the attack.
But Wilson asked prosecutors to deliver the women a message suggesting that they she forgave them: "Her scars didn't hurt anymore and she didn't want them to hurt either," Deputy District Attorney Maureen Dumouchel said.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
