Girl’s family asks Stanislaus County judge not to further delay child abuse trial

A second trial for Jeff Artemio Lopez, who is accused in his 4-year-old stepdaughter’s death, was scheduled to start Monday. But seven years after his first trial ended, there’s a chance the trial will be postponed again.

In March 2009, a jury found Lopez not guilty of murder in the 2007 death of Adriana Jimenez. A forensic pathologist testified that the preschooler suffered retinal hemorrhages, which suggested she had been shaken violently or hit with a blunt object.

The jury, however, failed to reach verdicts on lesser homicide charges in connection with the child’s death. The jury voted 10-2 in favor of acquittal on a charge of voluntary manslaughter. The jurors voted 9-3 in favor of conviction on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

The hung jury forced the judge to declare a mistrial. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office chose to prosecute Lopez again but has since decided to drop the manslaughter charges. Lopez faces one count of child abuse causing death, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if he is convicted.

On Wednesday, defense attorney Hans Hjertonsson asked Superior Court Judge Nancy Ashley to postpone the trial. Hjertonsson said he would like to begin the trial as soon as possible, but is in the middle of representing a defendant in a lengthy preliminary hearing for prominent Modesto attorney Frank Carson and five others charged in the slaying of Turlock resident Korey Kauffman.

Adriana’s family also was in court Wednesday, asking Ashley not to delay the trial again. They said the little girl deserves justice soon.

Johnny Jimenez, the girl’s father, told the judge that he doesn’t understand how someone else takes priority over his daughter. He said he’s worried that witnesses’ memories fade as years pass.

“I think it’s time that this gets started,” he said. “It’s not fair to my daughter, my family or myself.”

Gloria Jimenez, Adriana’s grandmother, told the judge that her family’s emotional wounds are reopened each time the trial is postponed. She said the repeated delays over seven years have taken a toll on her family members, and they need this case to conclude to provide some closure.

“It’s a pain that never goes away,” the grandmother said. “We deserve a speedy trial.”

Lopez told the judge that he also wants this second trial to get started as soon as possible. But the defendant said he would rather wait, so his attorney can be fully focused on his case.

The defendant was arrested on May 29, 2007, after authorities were called to a home on Esmar Road to care for the unconscious girl. Adriana was taken to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, then to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where she died three days later.

NOT GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

The child had bruises all over her body. Adriana also had a vaginal tear. Prosecutors said Lopez must have inserted a foreign object into her body. But the jury in the first trial found Lopez not guilty of sexual assault.

A forensic pathologist hired by the defense used brain scans to suggest that the child had a prior brain injury that was aggravated on the day of her death. The defense expert also said the vaginal tear could have been caused by emergency caregivers who inserted a tube into the child to drain fluids.

Lopez, who worked a graveyard shift at a local cheese company, had been home caring for his two children and two stepchildren when the little girl got hurt. He told the authorities that Adriana fell and hit her head when she was roughhousing with an older brother.

The defendant said he called the child’s mother, Mary Francis Ochoa, who was shopping and advised against immediately calling 911. Lopez called for help, anyway, because the little girl wasn’t breathing.

Deputy District Attorney Elaine Casillas opposed the defense’s request to postpone the trial, because it’s such an old case. She told the judge there’s still a chance the preliminary hearing for Carson could be further delayed, leaving an opening to start and conclude the Lopez trial.

Defense attorney Jesse Garcia, who is representing Carson’s wife in the Kauffman murder case, recently suffered a serious ankle injury and underwent surgery. Casillas told the judge that there’s a possibility Garcia won’t be able to return to the courtroom soon. Garcia, however, has made it clear to the court that he would be able to resume with the Kauffman case this week.

Ashley opted to wait a day to learn more about the status of the Kauffman preliminary hearing before making a decision on the Lopez trial. She asked the attorneys and defendant to return to her courtroom Thursday for her ruling.

PREVIOUS TRIAL DELAYS

The case against Carson and his co-defendants began in mid-August. Before that, there were other reasons Lopez’s second trial was postponed.

After the first trial, Judge John Whiteside reduced Lopez’s bail from $2 million to $250,000. The defendant shortly afterward posted bail and has been free since.

Lopez asked the court to appoint another attorney to represent him because he no longer had confidence in that attorney. In November 2009, Lopez informed the court that he would represent himself in the second trial.

In January 2011, Lopez changed his mind and asked the judge for another court-appointed attorney. But he didn’t want the county Public Defender’s Office to represent him. Hjertonsson’s law firm was appointed to defend Lopez in February 2011.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Girl’s family asks Stanislaus County judge not to further delay child abuse trial."