OXNARD : Jury Selection Starts in 2nd Murder Trial

Jury selection began Wednesday in the second murder trial of an Oxnard farm worker who is accused of dropping her newborn babies into toilets, injuring the first and killing the second.

Francisca Maria Sanchez Jimenez, 23, faces retrial on charges of murder and attempted murder because the jury deadlocked on a verdict at the end of her first trial in February.

During that trial, Jimenez’s roommates testified that they burst into their bathroom on May 11, 1990 and found her forcing her infant son headfirst into a flushing toilet moments after giving birth to him. They said they rescued the boy, named Jose Luis. He now lives with foster parents.

Jimenez gave birth to another baby boy 14 months later. His body was discovered July 28 floating in the sump of feces and chemicals in a portable toilet near the Saticoy onion field where Jimenez worked, witnesses testified.

Jimenez has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to both charges. If convicted in her second trial, she must go through an additional trial that will determine whether she was sane at the time of the alleged crimes.