Overview
- Za’Zell Preston, 26, was fatally beaten on Christmas Eve 2011 in Anaheim, and prosecutors said William Wallace later propped her body on a sofa, put sunglasses on her, told the children she was drunk, and filmed them opening presents.
- Wallace had a prior 2008 battery conviction against Preston, was ordered into treatment, violated a restraining order, and, according to prosecutors, had threatened to kill her for years.
- Wallace called 911 at about 9:30 a.m. on Christmas Day; paramedics found Preston on the sofa, and she was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
- At trial, Preston’s eldest daughter testified she saw Wallace force her mother into a glass table, pull her into a bathroom, and drop her head onto a toilet, after which she believed her mother died.
- In April 2021, a jury found Wallace guilty of second-degree murder, and a judge sentenced him to 15 years to life with credit for nine years served, as Preston’s mother assumed care of the three children.