People v. Miranda

Opinion

ASHBY, Acting P. J. —Charged with murder, appellant Gloria Miranda pleaded guilty in municipal court to involuntary manslaughter. (Pen. Code, §§ 192, subd. (b), 859a.) In superior court she was sentenced to an upper [1002]term of four years in the state prison. Her appeal is limited to a ground occurring after the entry of the plea which does not challenge the validity of the plea (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 31(d)), namely, that the sentencing court erred in selecting the upper term of imprisonment.

The victim in this case was a nine-month-old baby boy, Juan Dominguez, appellant’s nephew who had been entrusted to her care. Since a plea was negotiated in municipal court, there was no preliminary hearing or trial to develop the applicable facts. The sentencing court considered the probation officer’s report, the report of a social worker who investigated the incident, a coroner’s autopsy report and photographs, and testimony at the sentencing hearing by the social worker, the investigating deputy sheriff, and the infant’s mother, appellant’s sister-in-law.

The child died from multiple head injuries due to blunt force injury to the head. Other significant conditions included thermal bums and a ligature mark on the neck. Appellant’s version was that the death occurred from a tragic accident, compounded by panic and ignorance on appellant’s part. Appellant was a Salvadoran refugee living in a small apartment with her husband and her own children and the victim. According to her version, hot water or hot coffee spilled on the baby. In the process he either fell and hit his head or started choking. He went unconscious and appellant tried to revive him with various techniques and “folk remedies,” such as holding him upside down and shaking him, slapping him in the face, spanking him, and pinching his testicles. She took him by bus to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The autopsy report, however, showed the victim’s injuries were extensive, including five distinct points of trauma under the scalp, a ligature mark on the neck and numerous bruises in the head and neck region.

In sentencing appellant to the upper term, the trial court listed three circumstances in aggravation. One, that the victim was particularly vulnerable in that he was only nine months old; two, that appellant occupied a position of trust as the victim’s aunt and baby-sitter; and three, “the extreme severity, and the multiplicity of injuries to the victim in this case ... [t]he court finds that of necessity, because of the nature of the injuries, some of which have been read into the record from the autopsy report, that there was a prolonged and systematic battering of this infant before death was inflicted.”