Thread: 30-Year Term For Woman Who Killed Her Newborn

30-Year Term For Woman Who Killed Her Newborn

By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 12, 2007; B04



A 21-year-old illegal immigrant who killed her newborn daughter because she was afraid of losing her boyfriend was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison.

Maria Aguirre, who pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder, told an Arlington County judge yesterday about her life in El Salvador, saying that her mother had died when she was young and that she started working on a farm when she was 10.

She detailed her illegal entry into the United States, saying she was impregnated on the way by a "coyote," a person who charges immigrants money to help them sneak into the country.

"I want another chance," Aguirre told the judge. Her defense attorney said that Aguirre wanted to be with a daughter in El Salvador.

Circuit Court Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick imposed a life sentence with all but 30 years suspended.

The infant's body was found April 1, 2006, stuffed in a trash bag outside the Arlington home where Aguirre and her boyfriend, Melvin Portillo, rented a room. A mass of tissue paper, two inches long and an inch in diameter, was found deep in the baby's throat during the autopsy.

Aguirre told detectives that she killed her baby and that she had not told her boyfriend of seven months that she was pregnant because she was afraid he would leave her when he found out the baby wasn't his.

Aguirre locked herself in a bathroom in the house in the 3700 block of South 16th Street and gave birth by herself, tearing the umbilical cord before disposing of the baby. Portillo testified at the preliminary hearing that he noticed Aguirre was gaining weight but that every time he asked her about it, she insisted she wasn't pregnant.

The day Aguirre killed her baby, Portillo said she complained of a severe backache before locking herself in the bathroom, saying she was going to take a bath to try to alleviate the pain.

He went out with a cousin. When he came back, she was still in the bathroom, he testified. He knocked repeatedly and called out her name until she unlocked the door, he said.

Portillo found blood in the bathtub and wads of tissue paper stuffed in a trash bag, he said. Aguirre told him she was hemorrhaging but that she would be fine.

When Aguirre took the trash bag into the kitchen, Portillo found the placenta in the bathtub and wrapped it in another trash bag, although he said he had no idea what it was.

Portillo said he insisted they go to a hospital; Aguirre eventually agreed. At the hospital, it was determined that she had just given birth.

While she was at the hospital, the owner of the home found the baby in the trash bag and called police.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02081.html

I'm speechless.

Nice family values.
If they have this kind of callous disregard for the life of their own child - imagine how little they value yours or your children.

"I want another chance," Aguirre told the judge. Her defense attorney said that Aguirre wanted to be with a daughter in El Salvador.

Let's see, she leaves one in El Salvador, she kills one because the boyfriend is not the father????

She only got 30 years???? I have seen alley cats that are better mothers.

Maria Aguirre, who pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder, told an Arlington County judge yesterday about her life in El Salvador, saying that her mother had died when she was young and that she started working on a farm when she was 10.

She detailed her illegal entry into the United States, saying she was impregnated on the way by a "coyote," a person who charges immigrants money to help them sneak into the country.

How about a little responsibility for your actions. A tough life just doesn't justify murder.

Bless it's little soul!
Unimaginable...hard to find words for this sad story.

A mass of tissue paper, two inches long and an inch in diameter, was found deep in the baby's throat during the autopsy.

She deserves no better than what she gave.

I only hope other prisoners find out what she did to this innocent baby.