A Central California mother whose baby died inside her vehicle amid 100-plus-degree heat while she was having lip filler injections at a nearby spa has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Maya Hernandez, 20, of Visalia is expected to be sentenced to 15 years in prison at a March 5 hearing in Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield
Hernandez pleaded no contest to charges that included a pair of enhancements for great bodily harm to a victim under 5 years of age and willful harm or injury to a child that resulted in death in the commission of child abuse.
The conviction last week closes a case that dates back to December, when Hernandez was found guilty of two counts of child abuse likely to produce great bodily harm or death.
Then, the presiding judge declared a mistrial on additional counts of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter as the jury did not produce a unanimous decision.
Both the prosecution and defense teams settled on the no contest plea in exchange for dropping the murder count.
Neither the district attorney nor public defender’s office responded immediately to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said that, at 2 p.m. on a sweltering summer day in Bakersfield, Hernandez left her 1-year-old and 2-year-old children inside her Toyota Corolla hybrid in a parking lot.
Hernandez told police of the June 29 incident that she left the car engine on and the air conditioning running in the vehicle.
The car, however, has a feature that automatically turns off the engine after one hour of idling.
Bakersfield police believe the car shut off sometime around 3 p.m. with outside temperatures hovering around 101 degrees.
Bakersfield Police Det. Kyle McNabb, however, argued in police documents that the internal temperature of such a vehicle could have climbed to over 140 degrees.
Hernandez told police she returned at 4:30 p.m. and found her 1-year-old foaming at the mouth in the midst of a seizure, according to the police report.
She dialed 911, and her children were transported to a hospital for treatment.
The 1-year-old died at Adventist Health hospital. When he arrived, he wasn’t breathing, had no pulse and his lips were blue, while his internal body temperature had risen to 107.2 degrees, according to the police report.
The child, Amillio Gutierrez, was pronounced dead by the Kern County coroner’s office.
The older child survived and has recovered.
Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
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