Mother’s Retrial in Girl’s Death Set

An Oxnard mother whose murder conviction was recently overturned by an appellate court in the slaying of her 2-year-old daughter will be retried for murder early next year.

During a hearing Tuesday, Gabriela Hernandez, 22, stood beside her two court-appointed lawyers and agreed to a Jan. 22 retrial date.

It was the first time she has appeared in Ventura County Superior Court since her sentencing hearing 2 1/2 years ago in the beating death of her daughter, Joselin.

The toddler--who had previously been taken away from Hernandez and her husband, Rogelio--died in July 1996 as a result of severe blows to her abdomen. Prosecutors charged both parents with murder and child abuse under the theory that he beat the girl to death and she let him.

After a joint trial, a jury convicted both Gabriela and Rogelio Hernandez of murder and other charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and she was ordered to serve 15 years to life.

In August, an appellate court reversed her murder conviction, saying the trial judge erred when he barred testimony from experts who concluded Gabriela Hernandez was a victim of Battered Women’s Syndrome.

Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Hernandez’s lawyers declined to discuss her feelings about returning to Ventura County or the pending retrial. Hernandez has been held at a women’s prison in Chowchilla since early 1998.

But attorney Kay Duffy said the defense plans to put on an aggressive case focusing on Hernandez’s abuse at the hands of her husband, whom she is now divorcing.

“She has a story to tell,” Duffy said. “That is obviously what we are going to focus on.”

Hernandez, who is still serving a six-year sentence for felony child-abuse convictions, remains held in county jail without bail.