ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — A California woman on Wednesday was found guilty of first-degree murder for taking the life of her 7-month-old son. It has now been established that the woman pushed the baby off the fourth story of a hospital parking garage, according to a press statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
A jury found Sonia Hermosillo, 41, guilty of one felony count of first-degree murder and one felony count of assault on a child causing death. Hermosillo had pleaded not guilty to the charges by reason of insanity.
The DA’s office provided the following overview of the homicide:
“On Aug. 22, 2011, Hermosillo drove her 7-month-old son, Baby Noe, to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and parking her car on the fourth floor of a parking structure. The baby suffered medical conditions that required him to receive medical treatment at CHOC regularly, but the infant did not have a scheduled appointment that day. Baby Noe wore a medical helmet for one of his medical conditions.
“At approximately 6:20 p.m., Hermosillo removed her baby’s helmet and pushed Baby Noe from the parking structure with the intention of murdering him with the four-story fall. Hermosillo then walked inside the hospital, validated her parking, and drove away.
“A witness who saw the baby falling through the air called 911 and the Orange Police Department (OPD) responded to the scene. Baby Noe was taken to the trauma center at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center in critical condition. He died two days later.”
According to the OCDA’s office, the same jury who found Hermosillo guilty of murder will now determine whether she was legally insane when she pushed her son to his death. The sanity phase is currently scheduled to begin on Aug. 24, Law & Crime reported.
Under California law, in order to be found legally insane a defendant is required to show by a preponderance of the evidence that they either did not understand the nature of the criminal act or they did not understand that their conduct was morally wrong.
