Thread: Sentence of service in baby's dumping

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/monte ... 130519.htm

Posted on Thu, Nov. 10, 2005

Sentence of service in baby's dumping

Teenager must work 120 hours in community

By CLAUDIA MELÆ’NDEZ SALINAS

Herald Salinas Bureau


A Oaxacan teen who abandoned her newborn baby in a portable toilet last year was sentenced Wednesday to 120 hours of community service and placed on two years probation.

A month ago, she pleaded no contest to attempted murder.

The girl, now 18, faces deportation, but will likely return home voluntarily in the next few months.

In the meantime, Judge Jonathan Price told her Wednesday she would have to dedicate her community service to spreading the word about the Safely Surrendered Baby Law, which allows parents to give up their newborn within 72 hours of birth at designated safe havens such as hospitals or churches.

The woman was a minor when she delivered and left her premature baby near lettuce fields where she was working as a harvester. Her identity has not been released because she was a minor at the time.

She entered the United States without immigration documents. The Mexican Consulate is working with U.S. immigration officials to negotiate her surrender so she can leave of her own accord, Honorary Consul Blanca Zarazúa said Wednesday.

The girl's abandoned daughter, dubbed Baby Hope by nurses at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, is now 16 months old and has been adopted, Mexican consular officials said.

The information could not be confirmed with administrators at Monterey County's Department of Social and Employment Services, but in the past they said their main goal is to find permanent placement for infants and young children as soon as possible.

The Oaxacan woman reacted with relief after hearing her sentence Wednesday and turned to hug attorney Miguel Hernandez, who represented her at no cost. Neither the woman nor her older sister spoke to the media.

"She's glad it's over," Hernandez said. "She's glad she doesn't have to come back again."

On the morning of June 17, 2004, she complained of strong stomach pains to her older sister as they worked near Soledad. She later went home sick. That's where she was arrested after co-workers in the fields found the baby in a portable toilet.

The case cast some light on the presence of Oaxacan migrants in Monterey County and likely problems with language and other cultural barriers.

The Mexican Consulate will secure the financial resources for the girl to return to Oaxaca. It is unlikely that she will return to her parents' home, because Mexico's child and family services agency has recommended against it.

Just a slap on the wrist. I bet she'll do it again. Should have gotten some jail time.