MIREYA CARMEN ORTIZ RODRIGUEZ - 20 months - Topeka KS

Plea: Toddler, 20 months, suffocated, burned
Posted: December 2, 2011 - 12:29pm

By Steve Fry
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
A 20-month-old girl "likely" was suffocated, a prosecutor told a judge during a hearing Friday in which the girlfriend of the child's father pleaded no contest to the toddler's death.

The defendant, Johana Iveth Villegas-Gonzales, 21, made the plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in Shawnee County District Court.

The victim, Mireya Carmen Ortiz Rodriguez, died Aug. 12 from injuries she sustained at a residence in the 800 block of S.E. Highland.

The sentencing date of Villegas-Gonzales will be scheduled during a hearing Dec. 8. Villegas-Gonzales made the plea on the day after what would have been the child's second birthday.

Based on the plea, Villegas-Gonzales faces a sentence ranging from 55 months to 61 months in prison.

While Villegas-Gonzales admitted what she did, Denise Peralta, the child's maternal grandmother, said she still wants to know precisely what happened the day the child was killed.

"I can only hope that some day (Villegas-Gonzales) will tell me some day," Peralta said. "My granddaughter was such a good baby."

Peralta is dissatisfied with the maximum sentence of 61 months that can be imposed.

"I think a child's life is worth more," Peralta said.

As part of the plea, an earlier charge of second-degree murder was amended to voluntary manslaughter, a second charge of abuse of a child was dismissed, and assistant district attorney Chris Biggs said the district attorney's office would recommend that the judge sentence the defendant to 59 months in prison.

As a part of the statement of the facts in the plea, Biggs said the skin on the top of the child's feet had been burned intentionally, and pieces of skin were left in a sink.

The setting on the residence's hot water tank was on a very hot temperature, Biggs said, but the burns weren't the cause of the death.

A pathologist who examined the victim made the "likely" suffocation finding after eliminating natural causes and an accident as the cause of the death, Biggs said.

Law enforcement officers interviewed Villegas-Gonzales, who was living at the residence with the child and her father, Biggs said.

Villegas-Gonzales told police the child's feet were accidentally burned, that she felt responsible and that something may have happened because she was stressed out.

Villegas-Gonzales felt stressed because she had been thrust into the role of caregiver of the child due to her being the girlfriend of the child's father, Biggs said.

After the girl suffered the burns, Villegas-Gonzales put socks on the child's feet and put her down for a nap, "but the child would not quit crying, and (Villegas-Gonzales) was stressed because the child would not quit crying," Biggs said.

In an earlier incident, a grandmother of the child had reported finding marks on he child's ears, Biggs said.

Villegas-Gonzales, who understood some English, is in Kansas on an expired visa, defense attorney Cindy Sewell said.

District Court Judge Mark Braun told the defendant that a plea to the offense might have an impact on her status in the United States and might lead to her deportation. As a state judge, Braun told her he didn't have any control over potential deportation issues that she faced.

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-12-02/plea-toddler-20-months-suffocated-burned#.Tuy0StR8DdI

In other action in Shawnee County District Court on Thursday:

— The sentencing of Johanna Iveth Villegas-Gonzales, 21, who pleaded no contest Dec. 2 to killing a 20-month-old toddler, will be Jan. 11.

The sentencing was scheduled on Thursday.

Villegas-Gonzales, 21, made the plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter. The victim "likely" was suffocated, a prosecutor told a judge during the plea. The child was the daughter of the man Villegas-Gonzales was dating.

The victim, Mireya Carmen Ortiz Rodriguez, died Aug. 12 from injuries she sustained at a residence in the 800 block of S.E. Highland. Based on the plea, Villegas-Gonzales faces a sentence ranging from 55 months to 61 months in prison.

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-12-08/rape-case-appeal-postponed#.Tuy24NR8DdI

OMG...the murderer only gets 4-5 years in prison for killing this innocent baby along with torturing her. It just doesn't make any sense. In another case in CO, the mother got 24 years for allowing her aunt to torture her 20 month old daughter by taping her up and placing her in a shower which caused brain damage. The baby lived and is making progress. But in this case, the girlfriend killed the baby out of frustration and she gets a light sentence. What the h@ll is going on? The punishment is not fitting the crimes in the area of child abuse/murder. What a beautiful baby Mireya was and a tragic way to end her life. She did not receive justice in my opinion.

Justice For Mireya

Yesterday according to Kansas Sentencing Guidelines the judge handed down the sentence of 59 months for involunary manslaughter to Johana Villegas Gonzales in the death of Mireya..... Mireya was burned with hot water on her feet and then likely sufficated at the hands of this devil and all she gets is 59 months???!!
The sentence sends a message that its OK to kill children in Kansas….you wont serve much time and you get start your life all over again.......Mireya will NEVER get to start her life over again ! Justice waits for you in HELL Johana !!!

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