Rachel Smith walks out of court after being acquitted of child abuse resulting in death in District Court on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
Angel Arellano, mother of Jonathan Valenzuela, cries in district court on Wednesday, July 3, 2019, as the jury read a not guilty verdict for Rachel Smith for child abuse resulting in the death of Jonathan Valenzuela. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
Hugh Dangler stands next to her client, Rachel Smith, as she hears a not guilty verdict in her child abuse resulting in death trial in district court on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
A jury Wednesday morning found Rachel Smith not guilty of child abuse resulting in the death of a 3-month-old baby in 2017.
Smith, 28, was found guilty on two counts of obstructing the investigation into the child’s death and drug possession. Because she has already served more than two years in custody on electronic monitoring, her lawyer asked she be released for time served.
Chief Judge Marlowe Summer agreed. Smith’s remaining sentencing is still pending.
Trembling slightly, both Smith and a defense attorney, Hugh Dangler, appeared to cry after the verdict was read. Several members of Smith’s family brought their hands together in prayer to thank Dangler as the courtroom emptied.
“I am extremely grateful for the jury’s work … and extremely grateful for their decisions,” Dangler said.
The baby’s mother, Angel Arellano, 20, exited the courtroom, sobbing in a summer dress.
On March 11, 2017, Smith had been babysitting the infant, Jonathan Valenzuela, and his 2-year-old sister at her room at the Thunderbird Inn, when she awoke to find the baby had stopped breathing.
Smith, from Glorieta, admitted to police she had injected heroin the night before the baby’s death, and was indicted on charges of reckless disregard, which could incur an 18-year prison sentence. Police initially believed Smith, who had been watching the children for 33 or 34 hours, may have rolled over the baby in her sleep.
An autopsy report later showed there had been bleeding in Valenzuela’s brain, likely caused by blunt force trauma, and broken bones in the infant’s neck, consistent with strangulation.
Prosecutors for the state asked during the trial if she had harmed the baby in a stage of drug withdrawal, as the heroin left her system.
The trial was postponed in March when new evidence raised questions over whether the baby’s mother, Arellano, might have shaken or injured the baby before leaving him in Smith’s care. Arellano has said she did not harm her son.
Dr. Heather Jarrell, a neuropathologist with the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, and a witness for state prosecutors, said earlier this week the injuries could have been caused within 24 or 48 hours of the baby’s death.
The jury, composed of six men and six women, deliberated for two hours after closing arguments concluded Tuesday and returned Wednesday morning just after 11 a.m.
“This is a mysterious death,” Dangler said. “And will probably remain so.”
By Rebecca Moss, Santa Fe New Mexican (C) 2019 Reprinted with Permission
