A Williamsburg woman has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter after the death of her 6-month-old son last year, according to court records.
On Thursday, Juana Iriselda Escobar-Portillo, 31, entered an Alford plea on a voluntary manslaughter charge in the Williamsburg James City County Circuit Court. She was originally scheduled for trial.
In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his or her innocence but admits prosecutors have enough evidence to prove they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Court records show Escobar-Portillo was arrested Jan. 1 and charged with felony child abuse following an investigation into the Oct. 4, 2017 death of her son.
In January, a grand jury indicted Escobar-Portillo on a felony murder charge. That charge was amended to voluntary manslaughter as part of her plea deal Thursday, according to the charging document.
The child abuse charge was nolle prossed, or dropped, during the hearing Thursday. If charges are nolle prossed, the prosecution will not pursue the charges unless new evidence comes to light.
Escobar-Portillo was arrested in January after officers were dispatched to her home at 1342 N. Mount Vernon Ave. on a report of an infant not breathing.
The infant, Christian Escobar, is a triplet that had medical issues since birth, but doctors informed investigators that his medical issues were not the cause of his death, according to a criminal complaint.
Escobar-Portillo was alone with the children at the time of the incident and told investigators her son had stopped breathing while she was changing him.
Court papers indicated she then told investigators she started to push on his chest and pat his back in an attempt to rouse him.
When medics arrived, they performed CPR on Christian and took him to Sentara Hospital in Williamsburg where doctors had him incubated, investigators said in court documents. At that point, the child was still not breathing but had a heartbeat and was transferred to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk.
The director of the Child Abuse Program at CHKD reported to Child Protective Services that Christian had severe brain damage and it appeared to be an abuse case. In the complaint, investigators said Christian had suffered injuries from violent rotational acceleration force to his head which caused a disruption of blood vessels on the surface of his brain.
During a five-day period in the hospital, doctors determined Christian’s injuries to be serious and, after a series of tests, determined he was brain dead.
Christian was pronounced dead on Oct. 4, 2017.
Escobar-Portillo will appear in the Williamsburg James City County Courthouse for a pre-sentence report hearing on Feb. 13 at 1 p.m.
