Teen mother sentenced to 15 years detention for infanticide

KTVT

By Annie Gimbel

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    TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (KTVT) — 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 by the girl.

The girl had little reaction when the judge read the verdict, sitting still and staring straight ahead.

Her defense team, which called her actions “inconceivable, regrettable, and shameful,” had 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 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 act.

“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. 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 found 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, 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.

By February of 2022, police had the text messages, the evidence from the house, findings of doctors and the medical examiner’s office, but Parker didn’t take the case to the district attorney.

He needed more time, he testified, to look through more messages on the phones, talk to potential witnesses, and track down Martinez.

He testified he couldn’t find the boy at his home. He also couldn’t find him at his high school. The school resource officer wasn’t able to help either he said. Parker never spoke to the boy.

His text messages he said, were not enough on their own to charge him. In Parker’s opinion, the boy went back and forth on his desire to kill the child.

Parker testified that he “owned the fact” he should have filed the case sooner. While he waited though, Martinez turned 18. According to defense attorneys, now that he is an adult he can no longer be charged in the crime, unless evidence is found that was not previously available in the case.

In his closing argument to the jury, defense attorney Frank Sadler asked how it was fair that the girl was facing punishment, and Martinez was not.

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