"Infant" ORTIZ - Newborn (2006) - Orosi CA

A newborn girl who died after being abandoned on a cold December day in
2006 in an Orosi neighborhood showed no signs of abuse, but she likely
endured severe physical stress as hypothermia killed her.
On the witness stand Thursday for
the trial of the baby's mother, Nancy Ortiz of Orosi, Dr. Burr Hartman
said the baby's body showed signs of hypothermia, including dark blue
toenails and fingernails, and portions of her eyes and lips were
prominently discolored, almost orange, "which would suggest some kind
of cold exposure."Hartman,
who contracts with Tulare County to perform autopsies, examined the
body of the girl, given the name "Angelita DeOrosi" (little angel of
Orosi), by the county Coroner's Office.She
was found about 8:45 p.m. on Dec. 3, naked and swaddled in a black
sweatshirt in the bed of a pickup in the 12000 block of Sequoia Avenue.
Based on statements by Tulare County sheriff's investigators, the baby
may have been left in the pickup more than 24 hours before a teenager
looking for something in the pickup discovered her.
AccuWeather reported that temperatures throughout the day Angelita was found ranged from 28 to 63 degrees.

Evidence in blood

Another prominent indication of hypothermia, Hartman said, was what he found in
the baby's stomach: "There was altered blood. Coffee-ground type
material, a result of altered blood coming in contact with stomach
acid, causing the coffeelike material to form. "It suggests the body
was under severe stress from the cold," he explained on the stand.Under
questioning by Ortiz's defense lawyer, Michelle Winspur, Hartman noted
that this can occur for other reasons, including severe brain injuries
and adrenal tumors.When asked by the defense if the stress of childbirth could have caused it, Hartman reluctantly said it's possible.Based
on his examination, Hartman said, the baby appeared to have undergone
32 weeks (8 months) of gestation before birth instead of a full nine
months.Hartman
added that Angelita could have been alive hours or a few days before
she died, though he couldn't determine a precise time of death.
He noted under questioning by Janet Wise, the deputy district attorney for
Tulare County prosecuting the case, that newborns are sensitive to
cold, and premature babies tend to be even more sensitive.
He noted that he found some minor bleeding in a ventricle of Angelita's
brain, and she had a small bruise on one hand — the reasons for which
he couldn't determine — but he found no signs she had been beaten.Angelita
was the last of three newborns abandoned less than a block from each
other in the same neighborhood. The first two, a boy and a girl, were
found by neighborhood residents in February 2005 and January 2006.Both survived.

Child-endangerment, murder charges

Prosecutors have charged Ortiz, 24, with murder and three counts of child
endangerment for abandoning the babies and an additional child
endangerment count stemming from a July 2007 incident in which her then
3-year-old daughter was found wandering naked and dirty about a
quarter-mile from home.Sheriff's
officials testified in a previous court hearing that Ortiz told them
she hid her pregnancies and gave birth to her last three babies in
secret without her parents knowing.She lived in the same neighborhood where the babies were found with her parents and two children.Winspur
has said her client put the babies in front of neighbors' homes because
she didn't believe she could give them a good life, and she thought the
people who found the babies could provide better.

Testimony

Testimony in the case began Tuesday, with the prosecution presenting its evidence
and witnesses, among them sheriff's Detective Jim Franks, who testified
about going to Ortiz's home in May 2007 after getting a tip she might
be the mother.He asked Ortiz to rub a cotton swab inside her mouth to get a DNA sample
that could be matched against the abandoned babies to rule her out as
the possible mother, as he had with several other women in the area.The
prosecution played a digital recording of that conversation, but the
sound quality was so bad that only bits could be made out, and
reporters in the courtroom were not given transcripts, as were the 12
jurors and five alternates.

At one point on the recording, Ortiz gave Franks the name of a woman who she claimed might be the mother. But she apparently refused to have her mouth swabbed, as Franks could be
heard saying a DNA test was an easy way to eliminate her as a suspect
and noting the urgency of the investigation because the second baby was
abandoned 11 months after the first, and the third baby was abandoned
11 months after the second."If things continue the same way, there's another baby due in five months," Franks said on the recording.Ortiz was heard saying, "I wasn't here for it" when the dead baby was found.As the recording progressed, Ortiz and her mother — whom Franks said
encouraged her daughter to provide a DNA sample — can be heard arguing
loudly.Among the discernible statements by Ortiz are "No, I won't" and "No, Mom!"Franks
testified that the argument got so heated that Ortiz got between him
and her mother when she volunteered to have her mouth swabbed — as DNA
testing would show whether she is the abandoned babies' grandmother —
and actually held her hands under her mother's mouth."I've tested 20 different girls, and you're the only one who reacted this way," Franks said on the recording.He later testified that the altercation ended when Ortiz's mother wiped the swab in her own mouth.He
returned to the house next day to try again to get a DNA sample from
Ortiz. She wasn't home, but her mother allowed him to get a sample from
Ortiz's daughter.That
DNA testing determined a familial link between Ortiz's mother and the
three babies, Franks said. Based on that, investigators obtained a
court order requiring Ortiz to provide them a DNA sample.In
the tape, Ortiz's son and daughter could be heard talking briefly with
Franks. The defendant began sobbing in the Visalia courtroom.The defense has not yet presented its case.Ortiz's trial is scheduled to continue today, and could include a recording of
her interview with sheriff's detectives after being told DNA testing
showed she is the babies' mother.

Nancy Ortiz could spend at least
22 years in prison after a jury Wednesday found her guilty of
second-degree murder and three counts of felony child endangerment.
Ortiz, 24, abandoned three newborns in her Orosi neighborhood over a nearly
two-year period. The third, a girl, died of hypothermia before being
found Dec. 3, 2006, in the open bed of a pickup, where she had lain
undiscovered for more than a day and a half.She was given the name "Angelita DeOrosi" (little angel of Orosi) by the Tulare County Coroner's Office.The other babies, a boy and a girl, were found alive on Feb. 10, 2005, and Jan. 8, 2006, respectively.Ortiz originally was charged with first-degree murder, which carries a 25-year-to-life prison sentence. By the end of her eight-day trial on
Wednesday, however, the prosecution asked the jury to instead find
Ortiz guilty of second-degree murder, which does not require
premeditation and carries a 15-years-to-life sentence.The
jury rendered its guilty verdict about 2 p.m. Thursday. It also found
Ortiz guilty on three of four counts of felony child endangerment
likely to cause death, each of which carries a maximum penalty of six
years in prison.The jurors also found that special allegations existed in one of the
endangerment counts because Angelita died, adding four years to that
sentence.The fourth child-endangerment count involved an unrelated July 2007
incident in which Ortiz's then-3-year-old daughter was found wandering
a half-mile from her home, wearing only a diaper and surrounded by
barking dogs. She was hungry and dirty but uninjured, despite having
crossed a busy road in Orosi, prosecutors said.Instead
of finding Ortiz guilty of the felony charge, the jury found her guilty
of misdemeanor child endangerment, which carries a maximum one-year
sentence.Before the verdict was read, Ortiz cried and lowered her head, her long, black
hair obscuring her face from courtroom spectators. As the verdicts were
read, she shuddered and continued crying.Tulare
County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kalashian scheduled sentencing for
Nov. 9. Prosecutors said Ortiz — who bore two children at age 17 and 18
before becoming pregnant with the three she abandoned — would have to
serve a minimum 22 years, 4 months in prison before becoming eligible
for parole.

Defense lawyer responds

After the verdict, her defense attorney, Michelle Winspur, said that though
Ortiz did abandon the babies, she never intended for them to be harmed.
Ortiz testified that she kept her pregnancies secret from her parents
because she endured physical abuse and emotional isolation from her
family and her boyfriend after the first two pregnancies and feared
what would happen if her parents learned about her third, fourth and
fifth pregnancies.
Her mother, who had testified on Ortiz's behalf and was in the courtroom
for the verdict, broke down in tears and declined later to speak with
reporters.Winspur told reporters that Ortiz felt she had no option but to abandon the
babies, hoping they would be found and placed with families that could
offer them better homes than she could provide.Ortiz also testified that she'd been using methamphetamine while pregnant and when she decided to place Angelita in the pickup."She was young," Winspur said. "She was on drugs."

Jurors' reaction

Jurors weren't swayed by the argument."Evidence
proved [her guilt] beyond a shadow of a doubt," said William Gehrkens
of Visalia, one of the jurors. "And just because you're on drugs does
not give you an excuse to kill someone."Jury
foreman Steven Byer of Visalia said the trial was difficult to sit
through. He said he almost broke down when photos of the abandoned
babies and Angelita's body were displayed in court."The
way I saw it, she did not lawfully have the right to stick the baby out
there [in the cold]," he said. "She knew there were safety drop zones
[such as hospitals and fire stations, where infants can be legally
surrendered]."One of those fire stations was about a mile from Ortiz's home."When
she did take the stand, I was hoping for her to explain herself, and
she didn't," Byer told reporters outside the courtroom.

National attention

The abandonment of three babies in a single neighborhood received national
attention and sparked considerable speculation about who abandoned them
and why. Investigators ultimately identified Ortiz as the mother
through DNA evidence.
Winspur said she plans to file an appeal on the day of sentencing, possibly
based on Kalashian's decision Thursday to dismiss a juror.
A little more than two hours into deliberations Thursday, a female juror
asked to speak with the judge, and Kalashian convened a brief hearing
in which the woman said she had formed an opinion on the case before
the jurors began deliberating.As part of his instructions to the jurors Wednesday, Kalashian told the
eight men and four women to have open minds before entering the jury
room. Kalashian said he had no choice but to excuse the woman and
summon one of the five alternates to replace her.The alternate came to court about 1:30 p.m., and by about 2 p.m. the jury had reached unanimous verdicts on all counts.Byer
said the original 12 jurors were in agreement on most of the charges
but that the excused juror did not agree that Ortiz was guilty of
murder. She argued for a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter,
Byer said."We got pretty heated this morning," he said. "[The excused juror] was
adamant about certain things. She definitely wanted to voice her
opinions out loud and her political beliefs."Winspur objected to the woman's removal from the panel."It's obviously an issue of appeal whether she should have been dismissed," she said.Appeals after murder convictions are common, said Shani Jenkins, an assistant district attorney for Tulare County."I think we're on solid ground," she said. Staff writer Eric Woomer contributed to this report.

Sentencing for an Orosi woman convicted of second-degree murder and
child endangerment for abandoning three newborns in an Orosi
neighborhood — resulting in one death — has been delayed until Nov. 23.Nancy
Ortiz's lawyer, Michelle Winspur, asked for the delay Monday at her
client's sentencing hearing. Winspur said a probation report had been
handed to her in court that morning and that she had not had time to
review it.The
report, prepared by the Tulare County Probation Department, provides
recommendations to Tulare County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kalashian
for sentencing based on the charges, the defendant's criminal history
and other factors.Ortiz,
24, was convicted Oct. 8 on the murder charge along with three counts
of felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor child-endangerment
charge. The felony endangerment convictions stem from Ortiz's leaving
her newborns in front of the homes of neighbors shortly after secretly
giving birth to them in February 2005, January 2006 and December 2006.The
third baby, a girl, died of hypothermia after being left in the open
bed of a pickup in front of a home for a day and a half, prosecutors
said.The
misdemeanor charge stems from a July 2007 incident in which Ortiz's
first daughter — the second of five children she had given birth to
since age 18 — was found wandering about half a mile from her home.The child was dirty, wearing only a diaper and surrounded by barking dogs.Ortiz faces a 25-year-to-life sentence on the second-degree murder count alone.Shani Jenkins, an assistant district attorney for Tulare County, said her office received the probation report Thursday.A
miscommunication in how to deliver the report to Winspur resulted in
the delay, said Chris Dushane, Ôªø a supervising probation officer for
the county.

Nancy Ortiz,
the Orosi woman convicted of second-degree murder in the death of her
newborn daughter, was sentenced Monday to 22 years to life in prison.Ortiz,
24, received a sentence of 15 years to life for her daughter's death in
December 2006. Tulare County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kalashian also
sentenced her to seven years and four months on felony counts of child
abuse.She will serve the sentences consecutively and will be eligible for parole after 22 years and four months.Ortiz
abandoned two other babies in February 2005 and January 2006, but both
were discovered alive and are now living in foster homes.Ortiz cried quietly when Kalashian announced the sentence in the Visalia courthouse.
Her attorney, Michelle Winspur, said she has filed an appeal for a new
trial, based in part on jury misconduct. Winspur did not elaborate.Winspur
said Ortiz's sentence for her infant daughter -- named Angelita DeOrosi
by saddened townspeople -- was harsher than she deserved."She didn't intend to murder the baby," Winspur said.Ortiz
testified during the trial that she expected the new baby would be
found by the homeowner. She had left the infant in the back of the
neighbor's pickup.A pathologist who performed an autopsy said the infant girl died from hypothermia.Winspur
said Ortiz's actions were not callous. However, the county District
Attorney's Office disagreed and said the sentence was warranted."Justice was done in this case," said Shani Jenkins, assistant district attorney.The
lesson learned is that abandonment "should not happen to another
child," because safe havens are available for parents, Jenkins said.Ortiz testified during the trial that she began using drugs and then gave birth to her first child when she was 17.She
kept her first two babies but hid her last three pregnancies from
everyone except her boyfriends. In each abandonment, Ortiz testified,
"I was thinking this baby deserves a better life" than what she could
give.A jury convicted Ortiz of second-degree murder Oct. 8 for
abandoning the newborn girl in the back of the neighbor's pickup. The
jury also found Ortiz guilty of three felony counts of child abuse for
abandoning the three infants and one count of misdemeanor child abuse
because her toddler daughter was found in July 2007 wandering the
streets, hungry and wearing only a diaper.