Teen goes on trial for aggravated child abuse
The defense for a teen accused of critically injuring her baby wants the court to throw out her statement to police, saying she was pressured into implicating herself.
The defendant, Anais Ramirez, 17, is to be tried as an adult Monday on the charge of aggravated child abuse for the injuries sustained by her 5-week-old son allegedly by her hands. If convicted, she could face 15 to 25 years in prison. She was transferred to adult court following a transfer hearing last year. Had she remained in juvenile court, the maximum penalty she would have faced would have been confinement until her 19th birthday.
Ramirez was charged last year after her baby sustained brain injuries. An investigation revealed the debilitating injuries were caused by alleged abuse.
During Ramirez’s transfer hearing last year, District Attorney investigator Jason Rowland testified the teen admitted to shaking the baby, Christian Ramirez, and then throwing him on the bed after she became irritated by the baby’s crying. Ramirez later testified the baby’s neck snapped twice, once when she shook it and once when she threw it on the bed.
She also admitted the baby bounced about five inches off the mattress when she tossed him down.
However, the defense theory, presented during the preliminary hearing, maintained the brain injuries may have been caused when the baby fell off the sofa a couple of days earlier and just took time to manifest.
The statement Ramirez gave to officers is what defense attorney John F. Edwards of Cookeville wants removed. In his motion to suppress her statement, the attorney maintains they were the product of an unlawful arrest and detention. Edwards said a review of the video tape of her interview by police shows she repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“The video tape clearly shows she was coerced into making her statement after repeated denials of wrongdoing,” Edwards said. “Her interrogators hounded her and hounded her, pushing and pushing her to the point of extreme duress.”
Edwards further feels any evidence obtained as result of his client’s statement should also be excluded from evidence since they were fruits of an alleged illegal interrogation. Prosecutors have denied the charges made by Edwards and say the interview was lawful and that they intend to use her statement against her at trial.
While Ramirez goes to trial Monday, her mother, Ivellessee Rodriguez, 35, will face a later trial date. She is charged with not taking the baby for medical treatment when, prosecutors say, she should have known the baby was suffering from a brain injury. Rodriguez kept the baby shortly after the injuries were allegedly sustained.
Jury selection in the Ramirez case begins Monday morning at Warren County Courthouse. The trial is expected to last two or three days.