Mom of Dead Girls Declines Plea

In her first court appearance since being charged with the July 1 murders of her four young daughters, Sandi Nieves declined Monday to state whether she was guilty or innocent and was granted a two-week continuance before she must make a plea.

Dressed in a blue County Jail jumpsuit, with her brown hair tied in a single braid behind her head, a visibly nervous Nieves kept her eyes downcast during her appearance in San Fernando Municipal Court, speaking in a barely audible whisper only when responding to questions posed by Court Commissioner Richard Brand.

Nieves, 34, was charged with four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of arson with great bodily injury after sheriff’s deputies, responding to reports of a fire, discovered the bodies of her four daughters in the rear of the family’s rented Valencia home July 1.

The girls were Nikolet and Rashel Folden-Nieves, 12 and 11, and Kristl and Jaqlene Folden, 5 and 7.

Although the coroner has not released an official cause of death, the girls apparently died in a cloud of natural gas from an oven turned on by their mother, investigators have said. The girls were found wearing nightclothes, tucked into sleeping bags in the kitchen where sheriff’s investigators say Nieves persuaded them to have a slumber party.

At least four fires were also set in the home as Nieves allegedly tried to kill herself and her 14-year-old son, David Nieves, authorities say.

If she is convicted of the murder charges, Nieves could be sentenced to death.

“Whether she did this or not is not for us to say at this time,” said Howard Waco, Nieves’ court-appointed attorney. “It’s too early to argue guilt or innocence.”

Waco said that Nieves was released from the jail ward at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center on Sunday night after almost two weeks of treatment for smoke inhalation.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth Barshop said Nieves suffered the injury in an apparent attempt to kill herself and her son by setting fire to the home after the girls had died.

“There are some indications that not only was she trying to kill her children, all five of them, but she was trying to kill herself as well,” Barshop said.

Barshop declined to state what evidence led authorities to believe Nieves may have been suicidal, saying only that a dispute over child-support payments with the father of the three oldest children was one of several theories being explored.

Although Brand agreed to the two-week continuance--Nieves is scheduled to be arraigned July 28--he rejected a bid by Waco to have cameras removed from the courtroom during Monday’s hearing and future court appearances.

Nieves, who is being held without bail at Twin Towers Jail in downtown Los Angeles, will be housed in a protected area because of threats made against her by other inmates, Waco said.

Waco said Nieves was understandably distraught over the deaths of her daughters.

“As for her emotional state, she’s on the razor’s edge,” Waco said. “Anybody who has experienced the deaths of their children and has been charged with this sort of thing would be.”