Editor’s note: This story was originally published at 3:47 p.m. on May 1, 2025. It was updated at 4:37 p.m. on on May 1, 2025 to include a statement from Espinoza-Orellana’s attorney.
A Gaithersburg woman will serve 18 years in prison for the 2023 stabbing death of her boyfriend, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office announced Wednesday afternoon in a statement.
Jennifer Espinoza-Orellana, 23, of Gaithersburg was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Harry Storm in Montgomery County Circuit Court to 40 years in prison, with all but 18 years suspended, and five years of supervised probation upon release.
She was convicted Nov. 18 by a jury of second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, 20-year-old Jose Manuel Zavala Marquez of Gaithersburg.
Espinoza-Orellana’s attorney, Howard Cheris of the Rockville-based law firm Armstrong, Cheris & Page, told Bethesda Today in an email Thursday afternoon that he and his client intend to appeal the ruling.
“Jennifer never intended to hurt or kill anybody. She was trying to defend herself from a young man who had been physical with her earlier in the evening which was clear during the testimony during her trial,” he wrote. “While she is disappointed in the verdict and sentence in this matter, she hopes this brings some measure of closure to the young man’s family.”
Espinoza-Orellana stabbed Zavala Marquez outside of her home in Gaithersburg around 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2023, according to charging documents. She then drove him in a blue Honda Civic to Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, according to charging documents.
Espinoza-Orellana entered the hospital, saying her boyfriend had been stabbed. He was “not showing vital signs” upon arrival at the hospital, according to the charging documents.
Around 5:51 a.m., police said officers responded to a report of a man dropped off with bodily trauma at the hospital.
During an investigation, homicide detectives determined Espinoza-Orellana and Zavala Marquez had argued at her home on the 8000 block of Shady Spring Drive. “She followed him outside and stabbed him in the chest with a knife she pulled from a knife block in the kitchen,” the state’s attorney’s office said in Wednesday’s statement. “The knife went through his sternum and pierced his heart.”
According to charging documents, Espinoza-Orellana lied multiple times to police about the events that occurred the night that Zavala Marquez died. In one version, she told police the pair began arguing and that Zavala Marquez grabbed a knife from the kitchen and threatened to hurt himself if she ended their relationship.
Espinoza-Orellana then said Zavala Marquez then ran out the back door, and she caught up to him in a field next to her house, according to the charging documents. Espinoza-Orellana told police she then grabbed the knife from him and stabbed him once in the chest.
During their exchange in the field, Espinoza-Orellana stated Zavala Marquez attempted to or had begun choking her in the field, according to charging documents. However, officials were unable to find any injuries to Espinoza-Orellana’s throat or the rest of her body that would indicate she had been choked.
Former Bethesda Today reporter Courtney Cohn contributed to this story.
