LONG TIME COMING

Judge Frees ‘Likely Innocent’ Babysitter Convicted of Murder After 17 Years in Prison

A judge wrote that the woman’s original trial was “infected with constitutional error” and “false and misleading testimony.”

Rosa Jimenez was convicted of murder for the death of a boy she was babysitting, but a judge in Texas released her Friday on bond, declaring she was “likely innocent of the crimes for which she was convicted and has been imprisoned for the past 17 years.” Jimenez was sentenced to 99 years in prison after Bryan Gutierrez, who was less than two years old, choked to death on wads of paper towels packed into his throat. Experts at Jimenez’s original trial testified that the death could not have been accidental, but experts at a trial this week said otherwise, including one from the first trial who reversed her testimony. Judge Karen Sage of Travis County wrote that the trial was “infected with constitutional error” and “false and misleading testimony.” The Travis County district attorney requested her release along with her defense lawyers. The decision of whether to drop the charges or conduct a retrial now rests with the Texas Court of Appeals.