Mother tossed infant son off hospital building, ‘validated her parking, and drove away’: District Attorney

A California mother was found guilty of murdering her 7-month-old son nearly a decade ago by throwing him from the fourth floor of a hospital parking structure.

A jury in Santa Ana reached the verdict on Aug. 11 against Sonia Hermosillo, 41, of La Habra and convicted her on one felony count of assault on a child causing death, the O.C. District Attorney’s Office said.

Hermosillo has pleaded not-guilty by reason of insanity in the case. The same jury must now decide if she legally was insane when she committed the crime. The sanity trial is set to start Aug. 24.

Early on the morning of Aug. 22, 2011, Hermosillo drove to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County with her infant, Noe, and parked on the fourth floor of the parking garage, the D.A. said. At about 6:20 a.m., she removed a helmet the baby boy wore because of medical conditions doctors were treating him for at the hospital. The mother and son had no appointment at the medical facility that day.

According to prosecutors, the mother then pushed her child from the parking structure “with the intention of murdering him with the four-story fall.”

“Hermosillo then walked inside the hospital, validated her parking, and drove away,” prosecutors said of the mother, who has two other children.

An eyewitness called 911 after spotting the baby falling through the air. Noe was rushed to the University of California, Irvine Medical Center’s trauma department in critical condition, but he died from his injuries two days later.

“The most basic job of a parent is to keep their children safe from harm,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “This child didn’t even have the chance to take his first steps, say his first word, or even celebrate his first birthday before he was murdered by the very person whose job was supposed to keep him safe.”

“Baby Noe may not have been on this earth very long, but the men and women of the Orange Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office never gave up the fight for justice in this case,” Spitzer added.