Mom guilty in tot death - faces up to two years in jail

A West Dallas woman faces up to two years in jail after a judge convicted her Tuesday of being reckless in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, who was run over after falling unnoticed out of a car window two years ago.

After hearing almost six hours of testimony, visiting Judge Gary Stephens found Norma Leticia Suarez guilty of recklessly endangering Amanda Estrada in the Sept. 23, 2000, incident on the Continental Viaduct over the Trinity River.

Ms. Suarez, who waived a jury trial and opted to let the judge decide her fate, will be sentenced in about two weeks, after she is interviewed by probation officials. The penalty for the state jail felony conviction could range from six months to two years in jail or up to five years' probation.

"I cannot overlook the circumstances here," the judge told Ms. Suarez. "And I cannot hand you any worse sentence than what you've already suffered from the loss of your child."

Neither Ms. Suarez nor family members who testified on her behalf would comment on the verdict.

Defense attorney Gary Krupkin, who argued that the state never produced any evidence showing that Ms. Suarez was criminally negligent or reckless in her actions that night, said his client was "obviously very, very upset."

"What's most upsetting to her is the continued separation from her children," Mr. Krupkin said. "It's absolutely devastating to her."

Under a court agreement reached shortly after Amanda's death, Mr. Krupkin said, Ms. Suarez's two other children live with relatives.

According to court testimony Tuesday, Ms. Suarez was driving from East Dallas to her home in West Dallas with Amanda buckled in the back seat behind her. Somehow, the toddler somehow managed to free herself, wriggle out the car window and fall onto the viaduct.

Ms. Suarez told police that she last looked back on Amanda at a traffic light before she drove onto the bridge and that the girl was still sleeping while her 1-year-old sister sat in the front passenger seat of car.

When she arrived home minutes later, James Estrada, her husband, noticed that Amanda wasn't in the back seat. Mr. Estrada testified Tuesday that when he told his wife that Amanda wasn't there, "she jumped back in the car, looked between the seats and started screaming."

The two retraced the route from East Dallas and arrived on the accident scene about 10 minutes after police were called to the bridge. Amanda was pronounced dead at the scene from head injuries. Authorities said at least one car had run over the girl.

Traffic investigators offered different theories about how the girl fell out of the car an issue that was not resolved at the trial. One investigator said she could have crawled out the 8-inch opening in the back window. Another said she probably tripped while climbing into the front seat and fell out the open front passenger window.

Prosecutor Robert Rogers, however, argued that neither scenario mattered, saying Ms. Suarez ultimately was responsible for her daughter's death.

"This case is about nothing more than accountability," he told the judge. "We know that Norma Suarez was driving, and we know that at some point Amanda Estrada was not buckled up. All she had to do was make sure her child was restrained."

Any society that needs the law to make mothers responsible is doomed. If a mother is responsible for her child's death, her conscience is her darkest prison. If she doesn't care, and that is very rare, there is one less child to pass on her legacy.

These laws are a dangerous slippery slope. Banning her from supervising/ having cusody of children should be enough, IMHO. Prison should only follow if she defies that decision.

"Prosecutor Robert Rogers, however, argued that neither scenario mattered, saying Ms. Suarez ultimately was responsible for her daughter's death."

This is what liberalism brings us to. Whatever happened to having to prove criminal intent? Liberalism and "responsibility" are oil and water.

A kid learns early how to undo his restraint and it is not always possible to pull over in heavy traffic and re-do it.

"Any society that needs the law to make mothers responsible is doomed. If a mother is responsible for her child's death, her conscience is her darkest prison. If she doesn't care, and that is very rare, there is one less child to pass on her legacy.

These laws are a dangerous slippery slope. Banning her from supervising/ having cusody of children should be enough, IMHO. Prison should only follow if she defies that decision."

So in your book, because this mother feels bad about the irresponsible act that led to her daughters death, that she should not be punished. Is this woman not guilty of negligent homicide? Did we not prosecute people at one time whose stupidity or irresponsibility led to the death of someone else, in this case an innocent child?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the law is not intended to make people responsible, but to punish transgressors.

I suppose then, if a child kills itself with the loaded gun I leave on the table, but I feel badly about it, I get a pass.

This is a case of negligent homicide and she should be charge and punished accordingly.

Respectfully, S4T.

”This is what liberalism brings us to. Whatever happened to having to prove criminal intent? Liberalism and "responsibility" are oil and water.

A kid learns early how to undo his restraint and it is not always possible to pull over in heavy traffic and re-do it.”

If a child can undo the “restraint” intended to protect the child by confining them to the seat, then the child “restraint” is obviously defective.

"If a child can undo the “restraint” intended to protect the child by confining them to the seat, then the child “restraint” is obviously defective."

So if the vehicle crashes into something and catches fire and the driver is rendered unconscious, you claim that the child should have no chance to get out on his own?

The kid may become a cinder, but we can beat our chests with satisfaction that the seat wasn't "defective."

Sorry, but if the facts are as presented I think the mother's getting a bum rap. She exercised reasonable prudence and care, and through no fault of her own her child was killed.

And the car seat need not have been "defective". At the age of two I disassembled the bathroom sink drain by hand while my mother was taking a shower.

I feel sorry for this lady, and typically I'm as bloodthirsty and vindictive as the more extreme folks here.

Shouldn't one have the reasonible expectatiion that a child placed in a child restraint seat would be restrained to that seat?

What is the point of placing them there, if they can so easily remove themselves, thereby defeating the purpose of the seat.

If in fact the child was in the seat to begin with. The 1 year-old in the front seat was not in a child restraint seat.

So in your book, because this mother feels bad about the irresponsible act that led to her daughters death, that she should not be punished.

This is a dangerous slippery slope. A mother was recently made a FELON because her kids had sunburns! People seemed to think she deserves to be a felon. This isn't America. This is a giant insurance company that was once a free nation.

My mother didn't need the law to tell her how to raise me. I doubt your mother didn't need the law to tell her how to raise you.

This one individual's feelings aren't the point at all. The point is, the governmetn is getting way too powerful.

I also wrote, "If she doesn't care, and that is very rare, there is one less child to pass on her legacy."

Maybe that is difficult to understand. So I break it down. Her kid won't have kids. She lost out on grandchildren. If she is the result of a genetic defect, which somehow causes her not to care about her child, problem solved. Why have a law that causes women with genetic defects to 'care' artificially? I don't want my tax money paying for women to stay in jails because the law deems her to be as evil as a mugger or a burglar when her kids have a sunburn, or when there is a terrible accident.

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