Jury Finds Killer of Baby Boy Was Sane : Crime: The farm worker faces 10 years to life in prison. Her infant son was found in a chemical toilet in Saticoy.

A Ventura County jury ruled Wednesday that an illiterate farm worker was legally sane when she dropped her newborn son to his death in a chemical toilet in Saticoy last year.

Francisca Maria Sanchez Jimenez, 24, hung her head to her chest as the verdict was read, much as she has in court appearances since her arrest.

She faces 10 years to life in prison after her lawyer failed to persuade jurors that she was not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder of her infant son on July 28, 1991.

The body of the boy was found in the sump of chemicals and sewage at the bottom of a portable toilet for farm workers laboring in a Saticoy onion field. He had suffocated within minutes of birth.

The case repulsed Ventura County residents, who laid toys, flowers and letters of sorrow at a tombstone they donated for the grave of the infant who came to be known as “Baby Boy Sanchez.”

It brought to light allegations that Jimenez had tried to kill another infant son in May, 1990, by trying to flush him down the toilet before her roommates saved him. Those accusations added an attempted murder charge to the case.

And the case confounded two juries, forcing it through a third trial before it was finally resolved.

The first trial ended in a mistrial in February when jurors deadlocked, voting 11 to 1 for conviction on the murder charge and 9 to 3 for conviction on the charge of attempted murder.

In June, a second jury found Jimenez guilty of second-degree murder and acquitted her of attempted murder.

But the jury failed to agree on whether mental disease or defect kept Jimenez from knowing right from wrong or understanding the nature of what she was doing by killing the child.

With the second batch of jurors deadlocked 8 to 4, the majority believing she was sane, the judge declared another mistrial.

The third trial, on Jimenez’s sanity, ended Wednesday morning after just a few hours of deliberation.

The jurors ruled unanimously that Jimenez was sane when she killed her son.

Three jurors reached by The Times declined to comment on the verdict.

That verdict disappointed Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley, who argued that brain damage and a mental disorder prevented Jimenez from understanding what killing her son meant.

Farley said Jimenez will suffer in prison, where her conviction as a child-killer will put her at the bottom of the pecking order among fellow inmates.

“I feel strongly about her need for treatment,” Farley said. “I feel she needs to be given ways to go on about her life rather than try and forget about the cognitive defects she has. If she’s to progress in her life beyond menial, repetitious tasks, she’s got to receive treatment.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson disagreed.

If found insane, Jimenez would have been committed to the state mental health system for treatment.

But the system, overloaded with seriously ill patients, would have ruled that Jimenez was not sick enough for full-time treatment and kicked her loose after a relatively short time, Nelson said.

“In California, we have excellent education programs in the prisons, and an even better education system for people with learning disabilities,” Nelson said. “She’s going to have the opportunity to talk to other women who’ve committed similar crimes, an opportunity she wouldn’t have had anywhere else . . . and this won’t happen again. Babies are going to be real people to her.”

Farley scoffed at the suggestion that Jimenez will learn anything in jail.

“I know of no program that’s available in prison that’s going to provide treatment for a monolingual, Spanish-speaking, illiterate farm worker to get an education,” Farley said. “Her life will be in danger. I’ve had cases like this before, where the client has been convicted or pleaded guilty to child abuse. . . . This client will be ostracized in prison.”

Jimenez is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 7 at 9:30 a.m.

She faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life, but could be eligible for parole within 10 years, the attorneys said.