This browser does not support the Video element.
Judge exonerates Rosa Jimenez
In 2005, Rosa Jimenez was convicted and sentenced to 99 years imprisonment for the death of a 21-month-old who choked on a wad of paper towels while in her care.
AUSTIN, Texas - A woman convicted of murder and one count of injury to a child was exonerated by a Travis County judge.
On Monday, August 7, Judge Sage signed the State’s motion to dismiss Rosa Jimenez’s murder and injury to a child indictment.
According to the Travis County District Attorney's Office, the State asserted it has determined no credible evidence exists that inculpates Jimenez, and its belief that she is innocent of the crime for which she was convicted and sentenced for in this cause.
In 2005, Jimenez was convicted of one count of murder and one count of injury to a child and was sentenced to 99 years imprisonment for the death of a 21- month-old toddler who choked on a wad of paper towels while in her care.
RELATED: Woman convicted in 2005 murder of toddler released from prison
In 2005, Jimenez was convicted of one count of murder and one count of injury to a child and was sentenced to 99 years imprisonment for the death of a 21- month-old toddler who choked on a wad of paper towels while in her care.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office conducted a thorough review of the evidence, including significant reports and testimony of numerous pediatric otolaryngologists who specialize in the management of children’s airways, who unanimously concluded that toddler’s choking was the result of a tragic accident.
In January 2021, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office Civil Integrity Unit joined Jimenez’s counsel, the Innocence Project, and requested her release. During the writ hearing, pediatric airway experts testified that the child’s death could have been accidental.
As a result, on January 27, 2021, Judge Sage signed an order to release Jimenez on bond after finding that Jimenez is likely innocent and, at a minimum, entitled to a new trial.
This browser does not support the Video element.
Woman convicted in 2003 murder of toddler released from prison
Rosa Jimenez was convicted of the 2003 murder of a toddler she was babysitting who apparently died after choking on a wad of paper towels.
On May 31, 2023, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed that Jimenez is entitled to relief based on the false testimony provided during her trial and remanded this case back to the trial court.
On July 24, 2023, the Travis County DA's Office filed a motion to dismiss the indictment in this cause against Rosa Jimenez after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted post-conviction relief to Jimenez.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza released a statement following the exoneration.
"As prosecutors, we have an obligation to ensure the integrity of convictions and to seek justice. In the case against Rosa Jimenez, it is clear that false medical testimony was used to obtain her conviction, and without that testimony under the law, she would not have been convicted. Dismissing Ms. Jimenez’s case is the right thing to do. Our hearts also continue to break for the Gutierrez family. In this case, our criminal justice system failed them, and it also failed Rosa Jimenez. Our hope is that by our actions today, by exposing the truth that Ms. Jimenez did not commit the crime for which she was accused, we can give some sense of closure and peace to both families."
Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and Jimenez’s attorney, released a statement following the exoneration.
"Rosa was the mom to a one-year-old girl and seven months pregnant when this ordeal began. She was forced to give birth to her son in jail, shackled, while awaiting trial. For the past 20 years, she has fought for this day, her freedom, and to be reunited with her children. Her wrongful conviction was not grounded in medical science, but faulty medical assumptions that turned a tragedy into a crime — with her own attorney doing virtually nothing to defend her. I wish we could say that what happened to Rosa was an isolated occurrence, but we have a real, pervasive problem in our country when it comes to how the criminal legal system treats the caregivers of children who are hurt or die. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent caregivers and parents in prison today based on faulty, unscientific medical testimony misclassifying accidents or illness as abuse."