Thread: Sitter's illegal status cancels out bail

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/s...15074427c.html

Woman suspected of shaking baby is considered flight risk.
By Art Campos -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Friday, May 26, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B3

The baby sitter accused of shaking a 15-month-old Roseville girl to death will be held in jail on an immigration violation as she awaits a murder trial.
Confirmation of Veronica Martinez Salcedo's status as an undocumented worker rendered moot the $500,000 bail a judge had set in the murder case earlier Thursday.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Placer County District Attorney's Office confirmed that the 36-year-old Sacramento woman is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

"We've now obtained an immigration hold on her," said prosecutor Karin Bjork. "So even if she can raise bail, she's going to remain in jail on the immigration hold."


Scott Juceam, father of Hannah Rose Juceam, the child who died of brain injuries believed caused by shaken baby syndrome, was pleased with the development.
"This is very welcome news," he said. "We feel (Martinez Salcedo) should be locked up until the conclusion of this case. We had been devastated when the judge granted her bail."

Juceam said he had not been aware of her status as an illegal immigrant when he hired her. "I didn't know where she was from," he said.

Martinez Salcedo, who has been in the Placer County jail since May 13 without bail on a second-degree murder charge, had the $500,000 bond established Thursday morning by Placer Superior Court Judge Robert McElhany.

During that hearing, Bjork contended that Martinez Salcedo is a flight risk, while the defendant's attorney maintained that his client is established in Sacramento and would not run.

Public Defender Leonard Tauman requested bail of $100,000, telling McElhany that Martinez Salcedo is not likely to flee.

"She's (lived) here for a considerable time, and her family is here," he said.

Bjork urged the judge to keep the initial ruling of no bail.

"We have information that she made a statement to an officer that if they believed that she had committed this crime, she would return to Mexico, and they would never be able to find her," Bjork said.

After listening to the arguments, McElhany established bail at $500,000.

Bjork said after the hearing that a defendant is entitled to a bail amount in a murder case that doesn't involve the death penalty.

"And this crime is not subject to the death penalty," she said.

Tauman told McElhany he will request a bail review at the next hearing, which the judge set for June 6.

According to Roseville police, Martinez Salcedo was baby-sitting for the Juceam family on May 11. When the child's parents returned home, they discovered their daughter was unresponsive, and she was rushed to a hospital, police said.

Martinez Salcedo was arrested May 12 on suspicion of child abuse. When Hannah died the next day, the murder charge was added.


About the writer:
The Bee's Art Campos can be reached at (916) 773-2825 or acampos@sacbee.com.

Hannah Juceam

Maybe people really should look into just who they are leaving their children with...What in the HEL* is wrong with people?

Juceam said he had not been aware of her status as an illegal immigrant when he hired her. "I didn't know where she was from," he said.

Right!!