Hillsboro man guilty in death of girlfriend’s daughter
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:36 AM PDT
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) — A Hillsboro man will spend at least 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him of felony murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 20-month-old daughter.
Ramon Rodriguez Moreno, 28, will be sentenced Thursday. Under Oregon’s sentencing laws, felony murder means life in prison with a chance for parole after 25 years. If Rodriguez gets out of prison after 25 years, he will be deported to Mexico as an illegal immigrant.
Rodriguez testified that he did not know he was injuring the girl, Dulce Samantha Hernandez Onofre. He used a doll to demonstrate how he shook her and pushed her onto a sofa when she wouldn’t stop crying.
‘‘I didn’t know,’’ Rodriguez testified. ‘‘If I had known it would’ve hurt, in a thousand years, I wouldn’t have done it.’’
But jurors apparently thought Rodriguez minimized his actions. Doctors testified that the amount of violence demonstrated by Rodriguez couldn’t have caused the injuries that killed the girl in August 2006.
Experts said the back of her head was bashed in, as if she had been ejected from a car or fallen from a third- or fourth-story window.
Washington County jurors took them more than 11 hours to decide Tuesday that Rodriguez was guilty of killing Samantha while intentionally assaulting her. Jurors tossed out the charge of first-degree manslaughter, which is defined as recklessly killing someone with extreme indifference to the value of human life.
But besides convicting him of felony murder, they found Rodriguez guilty of second-degree manslaughter, which also is reckless but doesn’t call for extreme indifference.
‘‘I’m happy they came up with the right decision on the felony murder,’’ said Bob Hull, a prosecutor.
The defendant’s immigration status came into play during the trial when he claimed that he tried to take Samantha to a clinic.
During opening arguments, defense attorney Brian Butler said Rodriguez got scared and left without getting help when workers asked for his Social Security number and other paperwork. Rodriguez testified the clinic turned him away because he didn’t know the girl’s birth date.
Hull argued that Rodriguez fabricated his story, saying no medical facility would refuse to treat an unresponsive child.
‘‘He’s trying to make himself look better,’’ Hull said in closing. ‘‘The defendant has never told the truth.’’
