Final Arguments Begin in Molina Trial

Final arguments in the trial of a Laguna Niguel woman accused of fatally shooting her infant son in the head began Wednesday with conflicting theories about exactly what happened.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park argued in Orange County Superior Court that Shantae Molina was a troubled young woman desperately seeking the affection of her estranged boyfriend.

After a telephone conversation with him, Molina, then 20, fired four shots, once while holding the gun to the head of her 8-month-old baby, Park said Wednesday.

“Our minds know that it happened, but our hearts don’t want to believe,” Park said.

Defense attorney Eric Lampel maintained that police abused their authority in an overzealous attempt to prosecute Molina, and that she never intended to harm her son.

He said Molina had the gun because she believed an intruder was outside her home and that she fired accidentally.

“[Molina] was feeding her baby before this happened. Is that the act of a woman about to kill?” he asked.

If found guilty of first-degree murder, Molina faces a possible 35 years to life in prison. She was arrested on Oct. 16, 1998, after a frantic call to police saying she had shot her son.

Although charges were not filed initially, she was arrested three weeks later in San Diego.

Prosecutor Park held up the Beretta handgun that Molina allegedly used in the shooting, saying it takes 6.7 pounds of pressure to pull the trigger. Then she dropped an equivalent weight in sacks of sugar to her table.

“Pulling the trigger four times-- using 6.7 pounds of pressure each individual time--is murder,” she said.

Lampel replayed tape of the 911 call Molina made to police, causing the defendant and her relatives to cry.

“This is not the coldblooded action of a mother murdering her child,” the defense lawyer said.