The VENTURA Children - (2003-05) - West New York/Hudson County NY

Lucila Ventura, 22, will soon be out of jail after being sentenced to
five years in prison for throwing her two newborn children down the
airshaft of the building where she lived in West New York.

Ventura
was determined to have been impregnated twice by her father, who is
also in jail. Her sentence has been reduced due to mitigating factors
including her I.Q. of 72. The average person has an I.Q. of
approximately 100.

Ventura was charged in 2005 with throwing an
infant down the airshaft after a neighbor heard screams from the shaft
in September of 2005.

The child was rescued and is now in an undisclosed location, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

When Ventura’s second child was found, the decomposed remains of
Ventura’s first child were found in the same location. Investigators
determined they were that of a baby girl whom Ventura had thrown out in
the same manner in 2003.

Ventura pleaded guilty to reckless
manslaughter for the death of her first child and aggravated assault
for throwing the second child down the shaft.

In 2007,
Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan sentenced Ventura to five years in
prison for both offenses. Jose Ventura, the father, was sentenced to 35
years in prison.

If Lucila Ventura were to carry out her
sentence for the full five years she was given, she would be out on
parole in December of this year, but the Appellate Division of the
State Superior Court chose to overturn that sentence and reduce it to
four years instead.

That means that she has already served her sentence.

“There is the possibility that she can be out free within a few days,” said DeFazio.

Reports
say that the reason her sentence was reduced was that the appellate
court took into account factors including her sexual abuse by her
father, her possible depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome, and
her having an IQ of 72.

Asking for five instead of four

DeFazio
said his office is asking for Ventura to carry out her original
sentence and petitioning the courts to reconsider. He doesn’t know when
the court will review his petition and thinks the case may go to the
State Supreme Court for a hearing.

In the meantime, DeFazio said
he didn’t know where Ventura is being held, though he suspects she is
in a New Jersey State Prison.

N.J. woman who threw babies down air shaft released from prison, held by immigration officials





October 27, 2009, 3:49 PM



WEST NEW YORK -- The West New York woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her father and tossed her two babies down an air shaft was released from prison Thursday, authorities said. She is now being held by immigration officials.

Lucila Ventura, 22, a native of El Salvador, had pleaded guilty to the Aug. 31, 2003 reckless manslaughter of one infant and the Sept. 13, 2005 aggravated assault of the baby who survived the fall from the Ventura family's bathroom to the bottom of an air shaft.

On May 10, 2007, Ventura was sentenced to five years in prison by Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan. While serving that term she successfully appealed the sentence and on Oct. 8 it was reduced to four years by the appellate division which ordered her released.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office filed for a stay of the ruling but it was denied.

Callahan then amended his sentence and the court notified the state Corrections Department on Oct. 21, leading to her release the next day into the custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.

Journal file photoJose Ventura, who repeatedly sexually assaulted his daughter, in handcuffs.The prosecutor's office intends to pursue the matter and next week will file to have the case heard before the state Supreme Court in an attempt to have the appellate court's decision overturned.

Ventura would have become eligible for parole in December had the appellate court not re-sentenced her, but prosecutors say the matter is significant due to legal issues even if it would have little impact on Ventura's prison term.

The appellate court ruled that Callahan's decision in arriving at Ventura's sentence should have been more influenced by the fact that she was sexually abused and threatened for years by her father, had an IQ of 72, and suffered from depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome and other problems.

Ventura's father, Jose Ventura, 48, fathered the babies and ordered his daughter to throw the them down the air shaft. He also threatened to kill Lucila Ventura and her mother (his wife) if she told anybody about his abuse, according to court documents.

He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

An ICE spokesman has not yet responded to questions about when and if Lucila Ventura is to be deported.

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http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/10/west_new_york_woman_who_threw.html