A judge dismissed murder charges against a Texas babysitter 20 years after she was accused in the choking death of a toddler.
Rosa Jimenez was sentenced to 99 years in prison after her 2005 conviction in the 2003 death of a 21-month-old child who choked on a wad of paper towels while in Jimenez's care, Travis County District Attorney José Garza said Thursday. During the original trial, the state's pathologist said it would have been impossible for the toddler to have accidentally choked on the paper towels and prosecutors argued Jimenez forced them into the child's mouth. In the years since Jimenez's conviction, numerous experts have said that the toddler's choking was the result of a tragic accident.
"In the case against Rosa Jimenez, it is clear that false medical testimony was used to obtain her conviction, and without that testimony under the law, she would not have been convicted," Garza said. "Dismissing Ms. Jimenez's case is the right thing to do."
Jimenez spent more than a decade behind bars before being released from prison in 2021, when State District Judge Karen Sage found Jimenez was likely innocent and, at a minimum, entitled to a new trial, according to Garza's office. In May, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Jimenez was entitled to relief because of "false testimony" during her original trial. Judge Sage signed an order to dismiss the charges on Monday.
Rosa Jimenez was sentenced to 99 years in prison after her 2005 conviction in the 2003 death of a 21-month-old child who choked on a wad of paper towels while in Jimenez's care, Travis County District Attorney José Garza said Thursday. During the original trial, the state's pathologist said it would have been impossible for the toddler to have accidentally choked on the paper towels and prosecutors argued Jimenez forced them into the child's mouth. In the years since Jimenez's conviction, numerous experts have said that the toddler's choking was the result of a tragic accident.
"In the case against Rosa Jimenez, it is clear that false medical testimony was used to obtain her conviction, and without that testimony under the law, she would not have been convicted," Garza said. "Dismissing Ms. Jimenez's case is the right thing to do."
Jimenez spent more than a decade behind bars before being released from prison in 2021, when State District Judge Karen Sage found Jimenez was likely innocent and, at a minimum, entitled to a new trial, according to Garza's office. In May, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Jimenez was entitled to relief because of "false testimony" during her original trial. Judge Sage signed an order to dismiss the charges on Monday.