DES MOINES, Iowa — Marvin Esquivel Lopez, charged with killing Rossibeth Flores Rodriguez and her two kids, testified in his own defense Thursday.
He said his wife Mariah Lopez, who testified earlier this week, was not even home at the time of the killings.
On the stand, he described his version of the events, centering it around self-defense. It all allegedly started with Rossibeth called him saying his wife had poured soap in the rice she was making.
Over the phone, Esquivel Lopez told the court Rossibeth threatened to kill Mariah.
When he got home, Esquivel Lopez said Rossibeth came from the basement with a gun in her hand saying she killed her two children, pointing the gun at him and saying she was going to kill him too.
That's when he fought back, according to his testimony, picking up the gun with Rossibeth attacking him.
"And my hand was raised," Esquivel Lopez said. "I almost lost the gun and I gripped the gun and two shots were fired aiming towards her head and she fell on the ground."
He claimed Rossibeth borrowed $30,000 from someone in Honduras to smuggle her and her two children—5-year-old ever Jose and 11-year-old Daniela—into the United States in 2018.
He also said he housed them and paid Rossibeth $100 a day to work for him.
Rossibeth then grew angry, Esquivel Lopez said, because she couldn't come up with the money to pay the smugglers back and wanted to find work for someone who would pay more.
The jury was shown a photo of the body of Daniela between the two beds. Esquivel Lopez was asked if she was hiding from him. he said this.
"I don't know," he said. "I never went downstairs."
He also admitted that he wished he never called police after the shooting.
"It would have better better to flea and not be locked up for two years like now," he said Thursday.
Esquivel Lopez claimed self-defense, saying it wasn't until all of this happened that his wife came home.
Rossibeth's mother, Betty Rodriguez, took the witness stand again to refute Esquivel Lopez's claims.
She said Rossibeth was never violent, was a peaceful person and never had a temper.
She answered "no" when asked if Rossibeth would ever harm her children.
The trial will resume Friday morning with closing arguments before the jury begins deliberations.
Watch: What are the benefits, costs of a defendant testifying at trial?
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