Mother Accused Of Murdering Baby Wants Case Dismissed Over Alleged Racism In Prosecution

A mother from San Angelo, Texas, who was charged with the murder of her 21-month-old baby in 2019 has accused the district attorney prosecuting her and the prosecution of racism and is seeking the dismissal of her case, court documents showed.

Jenny Henley, defense attorney for Lesley Renay Moreno Fernandez, on April 8 submitted a motion to dismiss her client's case on the basis of "prejudice and ethnic discrimination in prosecution," the San Angelo Live first reported.

Lesley and her husband, Andrew Fernandez, were arrested in February 2019 and are facing capital punishment over the death of their baby, Nathan Quezada, in the previous year, according to a report by Law and Crime. An examination revealed that Quezada had died from multiple fractures in his vertebrae due to a series of blunt force traumas on various separate occasions.

The motion claimed, however, that it was prejudice for the couple to face the death penalty, citing a similar but separate case on the docket involving three people accused of playing a role in the death of a baby in January this year, as per the San Diego Live.

Destiney Harbour, Dustin Smock and Cristin Bradley were indicted for injury to a child after they allegedly never gave their child proper medical care, and at some point, gave the baby heroin.

Comparing her client's case with that of the three, Henley pointed out that District Attorney Allison Palmer was the prosecutor in both cases. The difference, the defense claimed, was that the Hispanic couple was facing the death penalty for murder, while the other family, who was white, was only facing a felony injury to a child.

Henley also said in the motion that Lesley should not face a murder charge, citing what she alleged were flawed claims provided by a San Angelo Police Department detective during a bond reduction hearing on Feb. 25, 2020. The claims in the hearing, which ultimate denied the bond reduction, were the following:

1. The deceased had multiple injuries over and extended period of time.

2. The deceased had unexplained health issues over an extended period of time.

3. "...no way, as a mother, she did not realize something was going on"

4. The detective believed that (Lesley) must have seen some bruising because (Lesley) had not followed up with doctor's appointments.

5. The alleged victim is deceased.

6. (Lesley) was an "unemployed mother"

7. (Lesley) "stayed home"

8. "That's all I have"

According to the document, the defense attorney said that several of the claims have no bearing on how Quezada was injured.

The lawyer rebutted the fifth claim, which she said had no information regarding the child's death. The sixth claim she criticized because it was allegedly a "nonsensical condemnation of motherhood, coupled with a condemnation of the economically disadvantaged."

The attorney also targeted the seventh claim, saying the term "stayed home" might just as easily be considered positive as it is negative. Henley then went on to accuse the detective of building the case on the idea that Lesley had not personally inflicted the blunt trauma of the child.

The court will meet again on June 1 to rule on Henley's motion.

The lawyer last year motioned for the court to declare the death penalty in Texas unconstitutional, even though court documents at the time did not indicate that the state was seeking the death penalty against her client.