A 29-year-old Weslaco woman convicted of killing her newborn child more than seven years ago has had her case remanded to her trial court for an evidentiary hearing.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday on a habeas corpus application filed by Sandy Hernandez’s appellate attorney.
Hernandez is serving 20 years in prison for manslaughter and 32 years for injury to a child after a jury convicted her in 2016. She had been charged with capital murder.
Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies arrested Hernandez four days after she gave birth to her baby on Oct. 17, 2014, in her Weslaco home. The child died within a day of its birth from blunt force trauma to the head.
The same court had previously declined to review an appeal she filed, but said in its Wednesday order that the habeas corpus application complied with the court’s procedure and that if the alleged facts in that document are true, she might be titled to relief.
According to the order, Hernandez makes numerous claims of ineffective assistance of her trial counsel as well as making a double jeopardy claim.
She was convicted in the 139th state District Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the trial court judge, Roberto “Bobby” Flores to make findings and facts and conclusions of law within 90 days of the higher court’s order.
At trial, she was represented by Fernando G. Mancias, who is now a state district judge, and Michael D. Tuttle.
She was convicted after about 10 hours of deliberation.
At the time of her child’s death, she was a college student and Hernandez told her parents and law enforcement that she did not know she was pregnant. Hernandez claimed she fell with the baby on tile in the house and grass outside of the house.
However, Dr. Norma Jean Farley, a forensic pathologist, testified at Hernandez’s trial that the child suffered several skull fractures and that short ordinary falls typically do not kill babies.
In Farley’s opinion, the fatal fractures the child received would have required a great amount of force.
Flores, the trial judge, has not yet indicated whether he will schedule a hearing or just making his ruling in writing, according to the court record.
Hernandez is eligible for parole in 2032 and is incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Hilltop Unit in Gatesville, a city north of Austin.
