A La Habra woman was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday for pushing her 7-month-old son off the fourth story of an Orange County hospital parking lot, killing the infant in 2011.
Sonia Hermosillo, 41, was convicted by a jury of one felony count of murder and one felony count of assault on a child causing death, the O.C. District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Hermosillo had entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
The same jury who found her guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday will also determine whether she was legally insane at the time of the crime. The sanity trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 24.
Hermosillo is currently being held without bail.
On Aug. 22, 2011, Hermosillo drove her 7-month-old son, Noe, to Children’s Hospital of Orange County and parked her car on the fourth floor of a parking structure. The baby had medical conditions that required him to receive treatment at the hospital regularly, but the infant did not have a scheduled appointment that day.
Baby Noe was born with congenital muscular torticollis and wore a medical helmet to correct his plagiocephaly.
At approximately 6:20 p.m., Hermosillo removed her baby’s helmet and pushed him from the parking structure, the DA’s office said. Prosecutors say she had the intention of murdering him.
Hermosillo then walked inside the hospital, validated her parking and drove away.
A witness who saw the baby falling through the air called 911, and police responded to the scene.
Noe was taken to the trauma center at the UC Irvine Medical Center in critical condition. He died two days later.
Shortly after Noe was pushed off the parking structure, Hermosillo’s husband called law enforcement to report that his wife and son were missing. That night, an Orange police officer saw Hermosillo driving past the hospital on Main Street and arrested her, officials said.
Hermosillo’s husband, Noe Medina, told police at the time that his wife had been hospitalized recently for depression and was not allowed to be alone with the baby.
Medina says Hermosillo grabbed the baby while he was watching the couple’s two other children at their home in La Habra. He had not been immediately aware of what had happened, and called police to report them missing.
“This child didn’t even have the chance to take his first steps, say his first word, or even celebrate his first birthday before he was murdered by the very person whose job was supposed to keep him safe,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a written statement. “Baby Noe may not have been on this earth very long, but the men and women of the Orange Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office never gave up the fight for justice in this case.”