Mother Held in Baby’s Death Is Readied for Her Freedom

A Garden Grove woman who spent three years in jail after prosecutors charged her with beating her 3-week-old baby to death was set to be released Friday after officials decided she is no longer a suspect in the case.

Kongsamay Tran, 27, was completing paperwork and retrieving her belongings from Central Women’s Jail late Friday after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter for waiting too long to take her injured girl to a hospital. Sentenced to four years in state prison, she was released after already serving most of her term in the women’s jail.

Tran’s case was repeatedly delayed by ongoing investigations by both prosecutors and defense attorneys. It took a dramatic turn this year when Tran divulged new information that convinced prosecutors she was not in her Garden Grove apartment when the baby was injured.

Tran had originally maintained that the baby suffered her injuries when she fell from a 31-inch-high changing table. After two years in jail, however, Tran changed her story, insisting that she was attending classes at Long Beach City College at the time, according to her public defender, John Randolph Zitny.

Zitny said Tran concocted her earlier story to “take the fall” for someone who also had access to the apartment. He said investigators checked out her alibi and found it convincing.

Prosecutors said Friday they remain convinced that the baby died after being abused. They said the case remains open but that not enough evidence exists to charge anyone with a crime at this time.

“Right now, we don’t have a case” against a second suspect, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Walter Schwarm. “I can’t tell you what will happen in the future.”

Authorities first learned of the baby’s injuries in May 1995, after Tran and another person took the comatose child to Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center. Doctors notified authorities after finding numerous injuries, including a broken leg, a skull fracture and cerebral bleeding.

Tran had maintained that the baby’s fall from the table occurred when she was momentarily distracted while throwing a diaper into the trash. But officials doubted the story. Doctors said the baby could not have suffered such severe injuries from a fall, and they concluded that the baby had been shaken violently, according to court records.

Tran was arrested on child-abuse charges. Those charges were upgraded to murder after the baby died the next year.

Despite her pending release, Tran wept through much of the half-hour court hearing.

“She was obviously happy, but also sad,” Zitny said. “She was reflecting on the death of her child, but she was happy to have the truth come out.”

Ted Baio, a close friend of Tran’s, who pushed for her release, added: “Her nightmare is over.” Baio is the executive director of Angel Inmate Ministries, an inmate support group.

Baio said Tran will focus on regaining custody of her other child, a 5-year-old boy.