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Another CA Woman Tries to Cut Off Husband's Penis

By Cynthia Hsu, Esq. on December 05, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Virginia Valdez, 69, of Palm Springs, was arrested after an altercation with her husband. It seems it got so heated that she attempted to cut off his penis with a pair of scissors.

Luckily for her husband, Valdez's dismembering efforts failed. Her husband was treated at a local hospital for a "non-life-threatening wound in the genital area" and has been released, according to police.

Valdez's motivations for the crime are still unclear, though police say that the couple had a long-standing marital dispute. She has been married to her husband for 32 years.

If this story sounds familiar to you, it might be because this isn't the first time in recent news that a woman has tried to cut off her partner's sex organ. Earlier this year, another California woman, Catherine Kieu Becker, sliced off her husband's penis and threw the appendage down the garbage disposal.

In Valdez's case, her husband escaped with only minor injuries and all his body parts intact. But that hasn't prevented Valdez from facing criminal charges. She was arrested on suspicion of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, and spousal abuse.

Under California law, an individual can be charged with the crime of mayhem if they try to dismember, disfigure, or disable another. The law specifically also categorizes assaults where someone tries to cut off or disable a person's tongue, puts out an eye, slits the nose, ear or lip as "mayhem" as well.

Authorities say Virginia Valdez tried to cut off her husband's penis. Her actions could land her a hefty jail sentence, as mayhem by itself is punishable by up to 8 years in jail.

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