A California mother who left her tot son in a hot car to die is headed to prison.
Maya Hernandez entered a guilty plea to Thursday to involuntary manslaughter, following a December mistrial for murder or voluntary manslaughter charges.
Kern County Judge Charles Brehmer subsequently sentenced her to 15 years behind bars.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Hernandez went for a lip filler procedure at Always Beautiful Med Spa on June 29, leaving Amillio and his brother inside her Toyota Hybrid.
Hours later, she returned to her vehicle to find both children unresponsive.
Amilio had a 107.2 degrees when he arrived at an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The other child had a temperature of 99 degrees, but survived.
During the trial, Hernandez took the stand and told her attorney, Assistant Public Defender Teryl Wakeman, that the children’s father had been incarcerated for domestic violence at the time. She said she was a single mother working as a certified nursing assistant at the time.
However, the prosecution argued that friends had offered to watch the children, and employees told her she could leave them in a child-friendly waiting room while she had the procedure done.
“Amillio’s never going to be forgotten,” Brehmer said. “Maya will be going to prison. Maya already has a life sentence because of the loss of Amillio.”
Amilio’s father, Rosendo Gutierrez, said he disagreed with what he considered a light prison sentence, ABC 30 reports.
“I just don’t think 15 years is enough. From experiencing going to jail, I know there’s a lot of programs that could get her out,” Gutierrez said. “This should have never happened… it just kills me.”
Hernandez is required to serve the sentence as a fixed term. She had already served over 280 days of the sentence.
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[Feature Photo: Amillio Gutierrez/Family Handout]