BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A Kern County jury was deadlocked on second-degree murder in the case of Maya Hernandez, the Visalia mother charged in the hot-car death of her one-year-old son, Amilio, and the endangerment of his two-year-old brother, Mateo, as she attended a medical spa for a liquid BBL in Bakersfield back in June of this year. She was found guilty on two counts of child endangerment.
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Jurors were facing the central question of whether Hernandez acted with “implied malice,” the legal threshold required for second-degree murder, or count one.
Prosecutor Stephanie Taconi argued that Hernandez made a series of deliberate choices on the day of the incident — choices they say cost Amilio his life. The defense urged jurors to separate emotion from fact, arguing that while Hernandez was negligent — a point they conceded on the involuntary manslaughter (count 2) and child endangerment counts (count 3 and 4) — she did not possess the mental state necessary for second-degree murder.
The Kern County Coroner’s Office confirmed that a 1-year-old Amillio Gutierrez from Visalia died from heat stroke. PHOTO:{ }GoFundMe, KBAK/KBFX
On Thursday morning, the Kern County jury was deadlocked on Hernandez for second-degree murder, count one. The judge declared a mistrial for count one, which then meant a mistrial for count two.
Hernandez was found guilty of:
Count 3-Child endangerment for one-year-old AmilioCount 4-Child endangerment for two-year-old Mateo
A status date was set for January 12 for count one and count two. The hearing is to decide whether the second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter counts will be retried.
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The initial trial began on Monday, December 8.