Photo: Crimeonline
His alleged crime is horrific.
By Rebecca Jane Stokes — Written on Apr 13, 2019
They say that when parents divorce it is often the children who suffer the most. Good parents consider this (to put it mildly) when they divorce and try to talk through, plan, and execute a strategy that will enable their child to grow and thrive knowing they are fully loved even if their parents may no longer be married to each other. It isn't easy, but they do it for the sake of their children.
Unfortunately, sometimes there are situations that are just too complicated for an amicable split and in these instances, it's often the kids who suffer. One child was being handed off from his father to his mother when his father, Jacob Munn, did something unspeakable, robbing his son of not one parent, but of two. Who is Jacob Munn, what he did, and what comes next — that's what we're diving into now.
1. The Crime
When two people have a child together they are making an agreement, whether or not they know it. What they are agreeing to do is put aside their own differences for the good of a child in the hopes of helping raise them to be a happy, healthy, adult. This agreement doesn't mean that you need to stay married, or that even need to like each other, but it does mean that for the sake of the child you share, that you treat each other with respect.
Jacob Ryan Munn, 30, is accused of violating that agreement in one of the most serious ways imaginable. Munn is accused of murdering the mother of his young son, Brenda Renteria, who was just 27-years-old at the time of her death. While all arrested in the States are presumed innocent until proven guilty, the facts stacking up against Munn don't look good.
2. The Charges
Munn is being held by authorities and in being charged with murder, but it doesn't stop there. His charge of murder includes "special circumstance allegations." What does that mean? According to the charges, this means that Munn sat in wait for Brenda in order to carry out a premeditated plan to shoot her until she was dead.
This is an important thing to note when considering his charges for a very serious reason. The special circumstance allegation makes it possible for the lawyers in his home state of California to seek out and ask for the death penalty should they decide to go that route. Currently, if that's what the state has up their sleeve, they're staying pretty mum about it.
3. Disorderly Conduct
You would think that being on trial for murdering the mother of his child would have Munn eager to prove that he is not the monster that the media has begun to portray him as being. Unfortunately, that has not been the case thus far. While Munn has only made one public court appearance, it didn't do him any favors, nor did it paint him in a remotely sympathetic light.
It has been reported by NBC Los Angeles that during this hearing Munn interrupted the judge several times. Why did he do that? He wanted to repeatedly express just how much he loved his son and to assure the judge that he wasn't a bad guy. Pretty words, but the actions speak louder, and this kind of behavior is hardly going to endear him to the powers that be.
4. What Really Happened
If the night of Brenda's death really unfolded the way the prosecution alleges, the last thing Munn should be doing is irritating a judge on his case. Brenda and Munn used the local police precinct, Hawthorne Police Department, as the exchange point for hand-offs with their son. Brenda arrived a little bit before 6 PM on a Sunday per their agreement to go and pick up her son who was spending time with his father.
The prosecution contends that as Munn and Brenda's young son sat inside of the station waiting for his mother to pick him up and take him, his father, shotgun in hand, jumped out his car and began to shoot wildly. While their son survived the vicious assault, tragically, Brenda did not.
5. Brenda's Fear
CBS Los Angeles reports that prior to her death Brenda, mother to three kids total, was afraid of Munn. Her fear was part of the reason they selected the police station as the exchange point. Her fear of her one-time partner is also why she made it a point to bring her mother along with her during pick-ups and drop-offs, just so she wouldn't have to face Munn alone.
“I do not know if there was a restraining order in place, or if this was just an agreed upon location for them to make the exchange. I do not know if there were any court papers involved in this," said ” L.A. County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Hoglund when he issued a press release about the crime. That said, a relative of the victim, said the station was selected simply because it was the midway point between their homes.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. Her work focuses on relationships, pop culture and news. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.