NEWPORT BEACH : Lesser Charges Filed in Newborn’s Death

A Costa Mesa woman was arraigned Monday in Harbor Municipal Court on charges of disposing of human and fetal remains.

Veronica Aguiler Gonzalez, 26, was first arrested on suspicion of manslaughter Nov. 12 after allegedly giving birth to a full-term girl and placing her in a garbage bin, according to Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis.

Workers had found the infant, with umbilical cord still attached, at a trash transfer station in Irvine on Nov. 6.

The district attorney’s office didn’t file manslaughter charges because the coroner’s office couldn’t determine from tests whether the baby was born alive, Gonis said.

Initially, Gonzalez was released pending further investigation but was arrested again Friday on the lesser charge at her apartment in the 2100 block of Placentia Avenue.

On Monday, Judge Frances Munoz said that Gonzalez would receive at most 30 days in jail if she is found guilty, and she was released on the promise to appear in court Jan. 12 for a hearing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lance Jensen said Gonzalez isn’t at fault in the death of the baby, who died of “fetal asphyxia due to aspirated amniotic fluid.”

Shelly Aronson, Gonzalez’s defense attorney, said that when Gonzalez saw the baby not breathing, she panicked. “She tried to get it to move. It wasn’t alive, and she panicked. Even if she had been given prompt medical attention, they wouldn’t have been able to save it.

“Our contention is that she has suffered enough, and it will do nobody any good to put this young girl back in jail,” Aronson said. “She’s just scared to death.”