SAN JOSE — A judge’s decision has been delayed for a month on whether criminal charges related to the death of a 3-year-old girl during an exorcism will proceed to trial and instruct a jury to decide whether the criminal responsibility of the child’s mother, grandfather and uncle. .
Judge Hanley Chew was originally scheduled to issue his ruling Tuesday, but that was delayed until May 13 to allow all attorneys involved in the case to submit briefs explaining whether Chew saw enough evidence to uphold the charges against Claudia Hernandez , René Trigueros Hernandez and René. Hernández Santos after a week-long preliminary examination that ended on March 25.
All three are charged with child abuse resulting in death in connection with the Sept. 24, 2021, death of Arely Naomi Proctor at a 25-member Pentecostal church south of downtown led by Trigueros Hernandez.
Only prosecution witnesses testified during the hearing, which lasted a week. In a brief submitted last week, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office summarized the testimony and recounted the gist of the case against the three defendants.
“During this assault, Arely Doe fought for her life while three trusted adults forcibly grabbed her by the neck, torso, back and legs, suffocating her while repeatedly trying to to open her mouth to make her vomit and held her so fiercely. strength that she had internal bleeding and injuries,” wrote Assistant District Attorney Rebekah Wise. “The evidence shows that as this assault continued, Arely struggled to escape her attackers. She clamped her mouth shut to resist the adults trying to open it.
Wise added: “The evidence presented at the preliminary hearing…is more than sufficient for this court to convict each of the three individuals charged.” »
San Jose police detectives testified to interviews with the defendants after Arely’s death – but before their arrests several months apart the following year – as well as a recorded conversation between Claudia Hernandez and her brother in which she allegedly stated “that God had taken (Arely) and everything was going to be okay”, and warned about how “it looks like we intended to kill her, but we didn’t not done. »
The final two days of testimony centered around Michelle Jorden, the county’s chief medical examiner, who performed Arely’s autopsy. She detailed the multitude of injuries the child suffered before he died, including bruising all over his body and marks on the child’s neck, numerous burst blood vessels and brain swelling which were all indicators of asphyxiation and suffocation.
Defense attorneys considered Jorden’s conclusion that the death was a homicide. They also questioned what they said was police detectives’ skepticism of the defendants’ Pentecostal faith; they argued that the police might have been less zealous in their interrogations if the defendants had practiced a more conventional religion.
Jorden was repeatedly pressed on whether Arely’s death could have been an accident rather than intentional killing, but the medical examiner remained firm in her conclusion, stating at one point in her testimony: “I don’t I can’t think of a situation where choking could be considered accidental.
The defense sought to establish that there was no intention to kill when Hernández, Trigueros Hernández and Hernández Santos participated in the exorcism, a ritual with which the grandfather claimed his past experience in his native El Salvador.
In questioning the detectives, they also suggested that Arely’s death was the result of a genuine attempt to purge her of a “demon” that the child’s mother had identified the day before; The child’s grandfather reportedly told police that Arely struggled throughout the ritual and was possessed by a power he could not destroy.
In a statement to a police officer on the evening of Arely’s death, Claudia Hernandez allegedly explained why Arely was possessed: the child was screaming and crying and “saying ‘no, no, no’ in her sleep while spreading her arms.
Before his arrest, Trigueros Hernández admitted to this news agency that he had performed exorcism. Arely’s death did not come to public attention until nearly eight months after it occurred, by apparent coincidence: police investigating an unrelated kidnapping searched the church where two suspects were located who later pleaded no contest in the matter, leading to the public revelation of the exorcism.
California Daily Newspapers
