Teen mother sentenced to 15 years detention for infanticide
TARRANT COUNTY - A teenage girl who hid her pregnancy from her family and spent months talking with the child's father about how to end the pregnancy, will spend up to 15 years in detention for killing the baby girl moments after she was born.
The trial in a juvenile courtroom in Fort Worth touched on issues of abortion, religion, sex education, police missteps, and the role of the child's father who was not charged in the crime. The girl, now 17, and not being identified due to her age, admitted the capital murder charge was true, the equivalent of a guilty plea in adult court.
Prosecutors had pushed for a maximum sentence of 40 years, emphasizing the violent nature of the death and the appearance of a lack of remorse from the girl. The teenager had little reaction when Judge Alex Kim read the verdict, sitting still and staring straight ahead. Her defense team called her actions "inconceivable, regrettable, and shameful," but still pushed for a lighter sentence that might include some probation, highlighting what they said was the unfairness of the child's father not facing any charges in connection with the death.
Alexis Martinez, 18-years-old, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he took the witness stand during the trial. The girl started sneaking out of her home to meet Martinez in 2020, as school districts were resisting re-opening during the pandemic. By February 2021, at 15-years-old, she was pregnant. Raised in a traditional pro-life Catholic family, with little to no sex education, and fearful of being disowned by her family, she sent Snapchat messages to Martinez that they had to do something.
"What if I try to get a miscarriage," one message said, which she followed up by suggesting she could carry heavy things. Later she asked Martinez to help punch her in the stomach. He resisted, replying that he didn't want hit her. He told her he was crying.
"Bc it's our kid but we gon [sic] have to kill it," he wrote.
Defense attorney Lisa Herrick characterized the girl's messages over the months as her intent to seek an abortion. During the hearing, experts testified the girl had the equivalent of a 6th grade reading level, and 3rd grade for math. Messages shown at trial showed they had decided to try to force delivery at night, and possibly bury the body at a spot in a nearby park.
"ima [sic] feel bad if I do something to it so you gonna have to do something to it," the girl wrote. "we gon [sic] have to kill it much as I hate to say it," he replied.
Later, he asked her again to consider telling someone, fearful they would get caught.
September 9, 2021, the girl delivered the baby in a bathroom at home. Her older sister, called 911, sounding shocked at the sight of a baby no one in the family was aware was coming.
"She didn't tell us she was pregnant!" the sister told the operator. "There's a baby on the floor!"
The operator initially sounded enthusiastic to help them with the new baby, who was named Dayana after her death. His tone changed, as the sister told him the girl didn't want to touch the baby. She could be heard screaming in the background, "I don't want it!"
Paramedic Samantha Sandoval testified the girl told her she had delivered the baby on the toilet, and it may have hit its head. However, Sandoval said she immediately noticed swelling, bruising and cuts on the baby's face and head. Doctors at Cook Children's Medical Center found the same thing and called police early the next morning after the baby died.
Fort Worth Police Detective Christopher Parker testified an investigation found signs of blood on the bathroom door, the walls, and above the mirror. In closing arguments, assistant district attorney Lee Sorrells demonstrated for the jury how the girl may have picked the baby up, and slammed it down on a hard surface in the bathroom.
"Six hours is how long Dayana suffered before she succumbed to the injuries inflicted by her own mother," said assistant DA Kyle Morris.
A clinical psychologist and licensed counselor both testified that the girl later showed no remorse for the death, and almost didn't acknowledge she had even given birth to the child.
"X'd out or deleted the child from her memory, from her being, from existence," said Dr. Nichelle Wiggins.
