Almost six years after a 9-month-old toddler was discovered not respiratory, with fractured bones and a burn on her leg, the kid’s mom is headed to court docket to face homicide costs.
A Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom choose Wednesday ordered Ivette Melissa Gonzalez, 32, to face trial within the demise of her daughter, Selena.
On Could 5, 2018, Gonzalez known as paramedics from a laundromat close to her Los Angeles house. In response to investigators, she’d run there with the infant in tow to report that her daughter was not respiratory.
Firefighters who responded discovered a “chaotic scene” through which a girl was performing chest compressions on a child. Los Angeles Hearth Division Capt. Cody Weireter mentioned the toddler was “blue in colour.”
The infant was taken to a hospital, the place she was pronounced useless.
“She mentioned that the infant had stopped respiratory after feeding her some rice,” former Los Angeles Police Det. Moses Castillo advised The Occasions.
Castillo, who testified at Wednesday’s preliminary listening to, mentioned: “She thought that the rice, perhaps it was an excessive amount of and it was blocking her airways, so she put her on the ground and punched her on the abdomen in hopes that it will expel the rice.”
Gonzalez was arrested the day she known as paramedics, however the district legal professional’s workplace deferred submitting legal costs till after Selena’s post-mortem report was accomplished, mentioned Castillo, who was an investigator of kid abuse circumstances within the LAPD’s juvenile division on the time of Selena’s demise and retired in 2020. He was the preliminary lead investigator on Selena’s case and met with Gonzalez within the hospital the day of her daughter’s demise.
Gonzalez was charged with homicide and assault on a baby inflicting demise in February 2019. She was taken into custody, the place she has remained in lieu of $2-million bail.
An post-mortem decided Selena’s explanation for demise to be a mix of blunt pressure trauma, doable asphyxia, chronically inflicted abusive trauma, coronavirus and pneumonia. Three medication have been additionally present in Selena’s system that will have contributed to her demise: THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana; trazodone, an antidepressant; and cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant.
When requested in regards to the medication within the child’s system, Gonzalez mentioned she had left tablets scattered all around the home on the time, in response to LAPD Det. Alina Gheta.
Castillo testified that he had seen drug paraphernalia when visiting Gonzalez’s house. She examined constructive for THC and opiates.
Dr. Carol Berkowitz, a pediatrician who works as a pediatric marketing consultant for the Los Angeles County health worker’s workplace, testified that she reviewed a doc indicating the infant was not being breast-fed, making it unlikely the medication have been handed by way of breast milk.
Castillo mentioned Selena had a large square-patterned burn on her left leg. Gonzalez had mentioned it was the results of a sizzling stroller throughout a current journey to a water park, Nice Wolf Lodge in Anaheim, however Castillo mentioned it resembled a burn brought on by a flatiron or different family equipment.
Gonzalez’s husband backed up her account of how the woman’s leg had been injured earlier, and mentioned the woman was positive when he left for work, in response to Gheta.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami, the prosecutor within the case, mentioned court docket proceedings had been delayed for Gonzalez partially due to psychological well being remedy, however supplied no additional remark. A consultant for the Los Angeles County public defender’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Castillo mentioned the fees of homicide and baby abuse inflicting demise carry jail sentences of 25 years to life.
“No baby ought to ever have any fractures, absent a automotive crash or freak accident,” Castillo mentioned.
Gonzalez is due in court docket for an arraignment listening to Jan. 24.
Metropolis Information Service contributed to this report.