DALLAS RYAN MACIAS - 4 yo (3/2011) - El Paso TX

Mother arrested on capital murder warrant in death of 4-year-old

Posted: 03/21/2011 04:50:16 PM MDT

Vikki Macias (El Paso Police Department)



Detectives have arrested the mother of a 4-year-old boy who died last week, El Paso police officials said.Vikki Macias, 26, today turned herself in at the Central Regional
Command Center and was arrested on a warrant for capital murder in the
death of Dallas Ryan Macias, police spokesman Darrel Petry said.Macias, of the 3400 block of Waterside, was jailed with no bond.Dallas was taken to a hospital with a serious head injury March 12 and
died the following day. The Crimes Against Persons and Crimes Against
Children units began an investigation when the boy was taken to the
hospital.http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_17664729?source=most_viewed

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/affidavit-4-year-olds-death-is-homicide-investigat/nD5PZ/


Updated: 2:29 a.m. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | Posted: 5:21 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Affidavit: 4-Year-Old's Death Is Homicide, Investigation Finds History Of Mother's Abuse


EL PASO, Texas —

An arrest affidavit described Dallas Macias' injuries and alleged a history of abuse at the hands of his mother, Vikki Macias.
Macias, 26, is charged with capital murder in her son's death. She turned herself in to police Monday after a warrant for her arrest was issued.

Her arrest affidavit said an autopsy revealed Dallas Macias died from blunt force injury to the head. It listed the manner of death as homicide.

The affidavit said Dallas Macias had bleeding in the brain and a fractured spine. It also said the child had a healing fracture in his left leg. The affidavit alleged that the fracture was left untreated by Vikki Macias.

On March 12, 2011, Macias took her son to Sierra Medical Center East after she said he fell off a bed, the affidavit said. The child was later taken to University Medical Center and died the next day at the hospital.

According to the affidavit, "Medical personnel who treated the victim state that the injuries sustained are not consistent with a fall from the bed."

“If he was jumping up and down on the bed and jumping in the air off the bed and landing on his head, or if maybe he climbed on something else,” said Justin Underwood, Macias’ attorney, in giving potential explanations for the injuries. “My client was not in the room when this happened.”

Underwood said Dallas was healthy and active in the very moments leading to his deadly injury on March 13, 2011. He said it was a typical Saturday morning in the Macias household. He said Vikki was doing laundry while Dallas played in another room.

“She walked by. He was playing on his bed one minute, and that’s the last time she saw him before she heard a noise and went in, and he was unresponsive,” said Underwood.

He said Macias screamed and attempted to revive him. Within 25 minutes, he said she had taken him to Sierra Medical Center East, a hospital about one mile away from her east El Paso home.

“He was alert at that hospital,” said Underwood. “He was talking to his mother. He was talking to the nursing staff.”

Underwood said Dallas was kept there for nearly 2 hours before being transferred to University Medical Center. Dallas Macias died at UMC the next day.

"Two hours at a hospital for them to send you somewhere else? When it's a four-year-old with a brain hemorrhage? I have a problem with that. I have a real big problem with that," said Underwood. “One of the physicians down there [at UMC] said, ‘What took you so long to get him here?’ That’s not in your police affidavit, and that’s not in your report. But these are facts that will come out because this was a horrible accident.”

Macias’ arrest affidavit also said, "Investigators are in possession of statements and reports that outline a history of abuse by the defendant against the victim."

"Show them to me," said Underwood. "Because this news station, who was first to report it last week, reported that CPS has nothing on them. So these are all allegations."

CPS officials told KFOX the agency is conducting an investigation into the matter, and there is no history of abuse.

As for the autopsy findings that rule Dallas Macias’ death as a homicide, Underwood called it "speculation."

“Doctors are asked in this situation to guess, give us their educated opinion as to what happened. But it’s an opinion. It’s not fact,” said Underwood. “The only person in the world who knows what really happened to Dallas in that room is Dallas.”

A 27-year-old El Paso woman is on trial for capital murder for the beating death of her 4-year-old son last year.

Prosecutors say Vikki Macias fractured the skull of her son, Dallas, and that the child also had a previously broken leg that never was treated.

Macias' lawyer, Richard Esper, says the boy hurt himself when he was jumping on a bed and fell from it. The El Paso Times reports Esper told jurors in opening statements Monday Macias found the boy unconscious and her boyfriend tried to revive him by slapping his face.

The child was taken to a hospital where blood was found in his mouth and his brain was swollen. Macias was arrested about a week after the child died in March 2011.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/El-Paso-mother-on-trial-for-capital-murder/-/1735978/13611678/-/x4g2v1z/-/index.html

EL PASO - A judge has declared a mistrial in the
case of a West Texas mother facing a capital murder charge in the
beating death of her 4-year-old son. The trial of 27-year-old Vikki Macias of El Paso will start over June 15
after the judge agreed with defense arguments that a police detective
crying on the witness stand could negatively influence the jury against
the defendant.

The El Paso Times reported (http://bit.ly/K82Cn0 ) that police Detective Rosalynn Carrasco broke down while testifying Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Macias fractured the skull of her son, Dallas, and the child had a broken leg that never was treated.

Defense attorneys say the boy hurt himself when he fell off a bed while jumping on it.

Macias was arrested shortly after the boy died in March 2011.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_20681781/mistrial-declared-west-texas-moms-murder-case

Judge denies acquittal of woman accused in 4-year-old son's beating death
By Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Times
POSTED: 05/30/2012 11:52:21 PM MDT

A state district court judge has denied a request to acquit a 27-year-old woman accused in the beating death of her 4-year-old son, but her second trial may be delayed while defense attorneys appeal the judge's ruling.

Attorneys for Vikki Macias, who is accused in the March 2011 death of her son Dallas Ryan Macias, asked for the acquittal based on double jeopardy. Attorney Richard Esper argued during a court hearing Wednesday before Judge Gonzalo Garcia that prosecutors goaded him into requesting a mistrial on May 22 by presenting a witness they knew would break down on the stand and taint the jury.

On that day, the second day of Macias' trial, police Detective Rosalynn Carrasco had an emotional breakdown while on the stand, prompting defense attorneys to ask for a mistrial, which Garcia approved.

Assistant District Attorneys Penny Hamilton and Jennifer VandenBosch denied knowing ahead of time that Carrasco would break into tears while being asked simple questions about the case.

During Wednesday's hearing, Garcia described Carrasco's meltdown as "bawling and sobbing loudly," and that "in a dramatic fashion" Carrasco threw her hands up to her face, causing a bracelet on her left wrist to fly off.

Garcia said during the hearing he remembered that, once jurors were asked to leave the courtroom, Carrasco seemingly turned her emotions off "as if turning a faucet on and off."

"This has never happened in my 30 years a judge, as an assistant district attorney and as a criminal defense lawyer," Garcia said while on the bench. "I've never heard of anything like that happening with a veteran detective."

Carrasco has been with the El Paso Police Department for about 10 years, and has been a detective for the past five years.

After Esper called Carrasco to the stand during the hearing, Carrasco admitted being emotional privately about the case, but didn't realize she would break down during her testimony. She testified she didn't stop crying until she was led out of the courtroom and into a nearby witness waiting room.

A second witness during the hearing testified that on May 22, Carrasco was seen sitting and rocking back and forth in her chair with her hands over her face in the courtroom gallery before taking the stand.

Carrasco testified she was concentrating on the testimony she was about to give, but denied she was crying or becoming emotional at that time.

Carrasco also testified she became emotional to prosecutors only once before the trial -- when she spoke to Hamilton over the phone days after Dallas had died.

Garcia later determined Carrasco's actions didn't warrant an acquittal, and reiterated Macias will stand trial again beginning June 15. However, Esper said he would appeal Garcia's ruling, which could delay a retrial.

Dallas died in March 2011 at University Medical Center, where he was being treated for a fractured skull and brain swelling. At the time, Carrasco was a detective with the Police Department's Crimes Against Children unit.

At the beginning of Macias' trial, defense attorneys argued Dallas' injuries were caused by a fall off a bed.

Esper said during Wednesday's hearing that he also will request a bond for Macias. She has been jailed without bond since her arrest about a week after her son's death.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_20742010/judge-denies-acquittal-woman-accused-4-year-old