Thread: Trial begins in Bisbee for Mexican man that abandoned infant

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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Trial begins in Bisbee for Mexican man that abandoned infant girl in desert outside of Douglas

By Jonathan Clark/Herald/Review
BISBEE - A Superior Court jury heard opening arguments yesterday in the trial of a Mexican man accused of abandoning an infant girl in the desert outside Douglas during an illegal border crossing.

Deputy County Attorney Marc Offenhartz told the jurors - six men and four women - that they would hear testimony detailing how a Mexican woman handed her child to Juan Cayetano Rosas, 24, of Huauchinango, state of Puebla, as she, her sister, the defendant and a human smuggler crossed illegally into the U.S. on the night of July 5, 2005.

When the group was discovered by the Border Patrol, Offenhartz said, they scattered, with Cayetano still carrying the girl. And while the child's mother was almost immediately apprehended, Cayetano managed to hide and momentarily avoid capture.

Eventually, fearing "la migra," he ran off, leaving the girl to fend for herself in a desert filled with snakes, scorpions, spiders and other dangerous creatures, Offenhartz said.

"Finally, thanks to the efforts of the Border Patrol and the Douglas Police and one hell of a miracle, that baby was found," he said.

During his opening remarks, defense attorney Chris Lewis told the jury that the key issue in the case was responsibility.

"Who is responsible for bringing this young person to cross the border? Who is responsible for bringing this person into such a harsh environment?" he asked in reference to the child's mother.

In fact, Lewis told the jury, there was no clear evidence that the woman who handed the girl to Cayetano was really the child's mother.

The woman has reportedly returned to Mexico with the girl and is not expected to testify at the trial.

Cayetano left the baby when it started to cry and he saw the Border Patrol coming, Lewis said. As he fled, he heard the girl stop crying and assumed that agents had discovered her.

He was apprehended early the next morning while hiding in a yard behind a Douglas gas station.

After the opening statements, the prosecution called two witnesses to the stand: Border Patrol agents Hugo Gonzalez and Rafael Muñoz.

Gonzalez, the supervisor on duty at the Douglas Border Patrol station the night of the incident, said he was summoned to speak with the defendant at 3 a.m. on July 6 - shortly after Cayetano was caught by Border Patrol agents and about an hour after the mother had informed agents of the missing child.

Gonzalez said Cayetano initially denied knowing anything about the girl, even after the woman, crying and yelling, identified him. After approximately 10 minutes of interrogation, Cayetano admitted to leaving the infant in the desert, and led Border Patrol agents to the area.

When asked why it had taken him so long to admit to knowing about the girl, Cayetano allegedly said he was scared of going to jail. When asked if he had been concerned about the child's safety, Cayetano had no reply, Gonzalez said.

"He just remained silent. He looked down," Gonzalez said.

Muñoz testified to having found the baby covered in ants and dirt and with mucous coming out of her nose. She had crawled about 30 feet through mesquite that was too dense for him to pass through, he said.

Both Gonzalez and Muñoz were asked to confirm photographs taken of the girl showing her heavily scratched face, arms, knees and palms. The photos were also shown to the jurors.

Gonzalez testified that a background check on Cayetano showed that he had been arrested four or five times previously by Border Patrol agents as he tried to sneak into the U.S.

During cross examination, Lewis asked the agents if they had seen photographs of the girl taken prior to crossing the border. Without such photos, he asked, could they say for certain that the girl's injuries had happened after she was handed over to Cayetano? The agents said they could not.

Lewis also called the woman's truthfulness into question when he asked Gonzalez to recall that she had initially lied to agents about a telephone number found in her pocket. And he noted that the woman did not tell agents about the missing child until several hours after she had been arrested.

"You're going to have to decide if that makes sense to you," Lewis told the jury. "Does that sound like someone who is responsible for a child?"

Initial police reports listed the girl's age as 16 months. Gonzalez testified Monday that he estimated her to be about 1 year old. Both agents said the behavior of the woman and child together strongly suggested them to be mother and daughter.

Cayetano is charged with one dangerous class 2 felony count of child endangerment. If convicted, his sentence could range from 10 to 24 years.

Copyright © 2006Douglas Dispatch.

I hope he rots in jail for the maximum sentence