Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Mom pleads guilty to abandonment

Dana Trujillo can carry out her probation in Colorado

Audry Olmsted El Defensor Chieftain Managing Editor

Former Socorro resident Dana Trujillo pleaded guilty last week to a single count of child abandonment stemming from a 2003 incident.

As part of her plea agreement, Trujillo, 30, will be able to return to her Colorado home to serve out the conditions of her probation. Also, two other counts of child abandonment were dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Trujillo's case came to light recently when her 7-year-old daughter, Zoe, died Dec. 6 in Johnstown, Colo., after Heather Trujillo, 16, and her boyfriend Lamar Roberts, 17, allegedly beat the child while acting out the video game "Mortal Kombat." Heather Trujillo was Zoe's half-sister.

In a previous Chieftain article, Zoe's father, David Garcia, said he and Trujillo had joint custody of their children and that Trujillo had moved out of the state without leaving an address.

On March 12, Judge Jim Naranjo suspended a 364-day jail sentence for Trujillo as well as a $1,000 fine. He sentenced her to 364 days of supervised probation.

Trujillo's attorney, Stephen Kortemeier, said his client was already attending grief counseling and parenting skills counseling in Colorado.

Both he and Deputy District Attorney Bruce Burwell said they would not oppose the supervised probation and continued counseling.

Naranjo ordered Trujillo to complete the counseling she is already enrolled in and told her she would need to provide proof of completion or a warrant would be issued for her arrest.

Kortemeier said Trujillo was grateful for the plea deal and said he believed his client was already on the right track to complying with the conditions of her probation. He added that Trujillo recognizes the need for counseling.

According to police reports, Trujillo left her three children, (ages 3, 5 and 12) with a babysitter in November 2003. Trujillo had been drinking and had not come home for an extended period of time, the report said. At that time, she was charged in Magistrate Court with three counts of abandonment of a child involving death or great bodily harm.

aolmsted@dchieftain.com

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