Exclusive: Sit down with attorney who represents mother cleared in child’s death
PORT ISABEL, Texas ( ValleyCentral ) — Charges have been dropped against a Port Isabel mother in the death of her 17-month-old daughter.
ValleyCentral sat down with Jim Young, Baltazar's court-appointed attorney in an exclusive interview.
In August, Mariana Martinez Baltazar was arrested on a charge of criminal negligent homicide in connection to the death of her baby. The arrest came nearly five months after police found her daughter dead inside their home.
Police also arrested the baby's father, Denis De La Cruz.
At 11:30 a.m. April 18, police responded to their home at the 400 block of Martinez Street in Port Isabel, where they found Baltazar's 1-year-old girl dead.
Police had responded to the same residence less than seven hours earlier to attend to Baltazar, who required medical attention. According to police, the child was still alive at that time.
Baltazar said it was a fall that gave her a black eye and a gash to the head. She did not tell police the injuries were from an alleged assault by De La Cruz.
She said her and the baby went to sleep after the first time police were called and when she woke up, "the baby was cold and would not wake up," police records show.
She also confessed to police that she did not fall and De La Cruz had assaulted her.
De La Cruz had been drinking at a local bar and continued to drink at home. The two then got into an argument and Baltazar kicked him out to sleep it off.
During the second call to 911, De La Cruz came home and was arrested and charged with assault family violence.
Baltazar's attorney told ValleyCentral the autopsy results for the child were inconclusive, meaning she was not legally responsible for her death.
Baltazar was still arrested and the warrant stated, "Martinez was not in her full faculties due to the beating and the alcohol to take adequate care for the safety and well-being of her child."
Young said it was clear that his client should have never been charged.
"The charge against her seemed so obviously inappropriate to me for law enforcement to then turn around after an inconclusive autopsy and decide that she was responsible. To me, that was several bridges too far."
Due to Baltazar's case being dropped by the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, evidence collected such as body cam footage and autopsy results were not released to Young.
They were also not able to charge De La Cruz because he was no longer in the country.
"No charges have ever been brought against Denis De la Cruz in connection with the death of baby Madison and he has no felonies, pending, and yet only a couple of months after this occurs, consented to be removed back to Guatemala," said Young. "I don't know of a reason why he would leave if he wasn't running from something."
Port Isabel Police Chief Robert Lopez released the following statement:
"I respect the District Attorney's Office Decision. We tried our best," Lopez said. "We worked with the District Attorney's Office to get the right changes. But I guess at the very end, they saw something we didn't, and maybe, they felt it was the best route to go."
Young asked the District Attorney's Office to review the case and they stated that it still needed to be reviewed.
"I believe he recognized upon a careful review of what had occurred that Mariana is the victim of a brutal campaign of unrelenting domestic violence and that, more often than not, it was that violence brought on by Dennis de La Cruz that ultimately led to the death of baby Madison, but in any case, it was clear that Mariana, it was not the cause of her precious child's death. She was a victim as well as Madison was."
Baltazar and Young do not want the violence that she endured to happen to anyone else.
"I'm here to ask the Port Isabel police department, the Cameron County District Attorney's office, first responders, law enforcement agencies all over the county to review what happened here and not to just read this report or listen to the story," said Young. "But to go to the DA's office. Get the reports, get the body cams and see what should have been done differently."
The District Attorney's Office has yet to comment on the situation.
Baltazar is still in jail on an immigration detainer and could be deported for a previous DWI charge from 2023.
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