Giselle Esteban given 25 years to life for Michelle Le's murder

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Giselle Esteban, the woman convicted of murdering nursing student Michelle Le in May 2011, was sentenced in Alameda County Superior Court this morning to 25 years to life in prison.

In her trial, prosecutors contended that Esteban killed Le, a former friend and high school classmate, because she mistakenly believed that Le was having a romantic relationship with Scott Marasigan, the father of Esteban's 6-year-old daughter.

Le, 26, was studying nursing at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland. She disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward on May 27, 2011, and her body was found in a remote area between Pleasanton and Sunol about four months later.

Prosecutor Butch Ford alleged in the trial that Esteban, 28, had planned Le's murder for months and staked her out in the Kaiser parking lot for hours before attacking her as she walked to her car.

Esteban's lawyer, Andrea Auer, admitted to jurors that Esteban killed Le but had asked them to convict her of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter because she said Le had provoked Esteban and Esteban acted in the heat of passion.

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