LA HABRA, Calif. (KTLA) — A mother was sentenced to 25 years to life on Wednesday for pushing her 7-month-old son out of an Orange County hospital parking lot, killing him more ten years old.
Sonia Hermosillo, 42, told the judge she was sorry for killing Noe Medina Jr. in 2011 and tearfully asked to be reunited with her family, the Orange County Register reported.
“I’m asking for an opportunity to be with my daughters,” she said through a Spanish translator. “Please, your honor, I know what I did was wrong, but I regret doing it from the bottom of my heart.”
Hermosillo was found guilty by a jury last August of one count of first-degree murder and one count of assault on a child causing death. She had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, triggering a separate trial to determine whether she was legally insane at the time of the incident.
A month later, the same jury that found Hermosillo guilty of first-degree murder also found her sane at the time of the murder.
OC Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger said Wednesday her only sentencing options were either probation or 25 years to life behind bars, adding that a probation sentence for killing a baby was not a good option, reported the OC Register.
“There is no winner here,” Menninger told Hermosillo’s family. “It just became a tragedy and I’m so sorry for what you went through.”
On August 22, 2011, Hermosillo drove her 7-month-old son, Noe, to Orange County Children’s Hospital in the city of Orange and parked her car in the fourth floor of her parking lot.
Baby Noe was born with congenital muscular torticollis and wore a medical helmet to correct his plagiocephaly. His condition required him to receive regular treatment at the hospital, but the infant did not have an appointment scheduled that day.
Hermosillo removed Noe’s helmet and pushed him out of the parking lot, the prosecutor’s office said. Prosecutors say she intended to murder him.
The mother then walked inside the hospital, validated her parking lot and left.
A witness who saw the baby fall through the air called 911 and police responded to the scene.
Noe was taken to the trauma center at UC Irvine Medical Center in critical condition and died two days later.
Shortly after Noe was kicked out of the parking lot, Hermosillo’s husband, Noe Medina, called law enforcement to report that his wife and son were missing.
Medina told police at the time that his wife had recently been hospitalized with depression and was not allowed to be alone with the baby. He said she took Noe while he watched the couple’s other two children at their home in La Habra. He hadn’t been immediately aware of what had happened, but when he realized they were gone he called the police to report them missing.
That night, an Orange police officer saw Hermosillo drive past Main Street Hospital and arrested her, officials said.
