SATICOY : Sanity Trial Jury Begins Deliberations

After a monthlong trial, jurors on Tuesday began deliberations to determine whether a farm worker was legally insane when she left her newborn baby to die in a portable toilet in Saticoy.

In her closing argument to the Ventura County Superior Court jury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson conceded that Francisca Sanchez Jimenez may have learning disabilities. But Nelson rejected the contentions of witnesses for the defense who testified that Jimenez suffers from schizophrenia, a personality disorder, and dementia.

Even if Jimenez had a mental illness, it would be irrelevant, Nelson said. She said the evidence shows that the farm worker knew what she was doing and that it was wrong.

In her rebuttal, Deputy Public Defender Jean L. Farley said the issue is whether Jimenez knew right from wrong at the time of the crime. Farley said the evidence indicates that Jimenez had a rapid, unexpected delivery. That circumstance, combined with her mental problems, prevented her from realizing what was happening, Farley said. Under the law, Farley bears the burden of proving that Jimenez was insane.

Jimenez was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of the infant, known as Baby Boy Sanchez. But the jury that returned that verdict in June deadlocked on the sanity issue.

If Jimenez is found to have been sane, she faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. If she is judged to have been insane, she will be housed at a mental institution until a judge finds that she has regained her sanity.