Woman accused of murdering baby in her care could be released after wrongful conviction: judge

AUSTIN, Texas - A woman who has been in prison for two decades could soon be released.

A judge believes she was wrongfully convicted of murdering a baby in her care. 

Conviction of Carmen Mejia

Carmen Mejia was convicted in 2005 of murder, injury to a child with serious bodily injury, and injury to a child by omission. She has spent the past two decades in prison, separated from her children.

In 2003, she was caring for a 10-month-old and was accused of submerging the baby in scalding bath water as well as not getting him care soon enough.

In an emotional hearing, prosecutors admitted they were wrong, and the convictions were based on junk science and misleading testimony.

"It is clear that this was a wrongful conviction," the judge said at Thursday's hearing.

Concerns during original trial

Art Guerrero was the bailiff in the original trial. He recalls what Mejia was like then. 

"She cried the whole time, every day. She had her head down. She never raised her head at all until she was asked to speak or say something," he said. "It was very, very sad, sad to see."

He had concerns about the original trial. 

"It was very, very hard for me because I was an employee of Travis County as a bailiff and I loved my job, didn't pay very much. I love what I did, and I had to struggle with what do I do? Who do I talk to that you can trust because how can you go against a judge?" he said.

After he retired in 2015, he eventually reached out to the Innocence Project and later on, a review of the case was started.

"God works in mysterious ways, so one thing led to another, and before you know it, they're beginning to have these hearings here," he said.

Mejia initially told investigators different stories, afraid of being separated from her children. 

"She was driven by fear," Shabel Castro, with the Innocence Project, said during the hearing. 

In the original trial, multiple experts testified that it was an intentional homicide, but the defense didn't have equal experts testifying for their side.

Last year, one of Mejia's children, who was three-years-old during the incident, testified that she turned on the faucet when the baby was in the bathtub, and Mejia was not in the bathroom with the baby. A burn expert also testified. The water heater didn't have temperature protection. After reviewing all this, the medical examiner changed the manner of death from homicide to accident. 

"The state cannot do anything but agree that Ms. Mejia was wrongfully convicted," the prosecution said during Thursday's hearing. 

"You feel like you've been on a roller coaster, up and down, up and down. We still have one more hoop to go, one more journey, and that's with the Court Criminal Appeals," Guerrero said.

DA Jose Garza reacts

District Attorney Jose Garza met with Guerrero to thank him for speaking up.

"When people have faith in our criminal justice system, when they believe that it works correctly, when they believe it works well, it means that people are more likely to participate, and that makes all of us more safe. We've built a pretty extensive process that allows anyone, defense counsel, to come to us when they think they may have evidence of a wrongful conviction," he said. "This is about the human beings whose lives have been devastated by these errors. It's just so powerful for them to feel like they are getting some redemption, some relief and we're just, our hearts swell with happiness for them and for what we hope will be the eventual conclusion of this case."

What's next:

Mejia's case will now go before the Court of Criminal Appeals. They will determine if they agree with the judge's recommendation. Mejia will stay in custody for the time being.

The DA's office has the Conviction Integrity Unit, where they review possible wrongful convictions, including Mejia's. So far, five people have been exonerated from it.