(ProsperNews.net) – A judge in Texas threw out murder charges against a babysitter almost 20 years after her conviction. A jury convicted Rosa Jiminez of murder in 2005 following the death of a 21-month-old baby in her care two years earlier. She was sentenced to 99 years imprisonment.
The child choked to death on paper towels, and at the time, an expert witness said it would have been impossible for this to have occurred accidentally. Prosecutors said Jiminez forced the towels into the child’s mouth.
Since her conviction, however, several experts have stepped forward to say this testimony was flawed and it is perfectly feasible that the toddler placed the towels into their own mouth.
In overturning Ms. Jiminez’s conviction, State District Judge Karen Sage said, “In the case against Rosa Jimenez, it is clear that false medical testimony was used to obtain her conviction, and without that testimony under the law, she would not have been convicted.” She added that releasing Jiminez was the “right thing to do.”
The case reached court thanks to efforts by Travis County District Attorney Jose P. Garza and the DA’s office’s victims services and conviction integrity units. Lawyers reviewed the case, and four state and federal judges agreed it would likely have been an unjust conviction. A new trial was blocked however by State Attorney General Ken Paxton because her case was being appealed in federal court by the New York-based Innocence Project.
Legal matters continued to-and-fro until reaching Judge Karen Sage’s courtroom in early August. Jiminez spent almost two decades in prison and the Innocence Project believes that thousands of people across America are enduring the same injustice. Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at The Innocence Project, aided Jiminez’s case. She said, “When a child dies, it’s just a devastating tragedy, but it doesn’t always mean that somebody’s accountable.”
Now 41 years old, Jiminez lives in New York and suffers from advanced kidney disease. The Innocence Project has vowed to help her recover.
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