Even though prosecutors say they are fairly confident they could have won a murder conviction, they offered Christine Robles a manslaughter plea agreement, which she accepted last week . That meant the Koloa woman’s day in court scheduled for Monday
Even though prosecutors say they are fairly confident they could have won a murder conviction, they offered Christine Robles a manslaughter plea agreement, which she accepted last week .
That meant the Koloa woman’s day in court scheduled for Monday lasted only 30 minutes. The trial was shaping up to be day one of a lengthy non-jury trial before Fifth Circuit Court Judge Clifford Nakea.
Nakea found her guilty of manslaughter after she entered a no-contest plea to that charge. He will sentence Robles, 22, on Thursday, Aug. 1. She faces up to 20 years in prison as a result of the plea agreement.
She could also just get probation, said Alfred B. Castillo, her attorney.
Robles was charged with second-degree murder after police and prosecutors allege she gave birth to a son at home at the end of April last year without medical assistance, stuffed the child into a rice bag and then dumped the boy into an trash can located outside .
An autopsy determined that the full-term baby had died of asphyxiation, officials said. There were no visible signs of trauma.
Robles pled not guilty to the murder charge, and has been free on supervised leave and $10,000 bail since being arrested in early May 2001.
County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Soong, speaking earlier in court, read from the indictment the alleged charges originally filed against Robles:
“Murder, knowing and causing the death, and murder by omission (not taking proper care of the infant after its birth). On April 30, the defendant gave birth at home without medical assistance. She was questioned at the scene by firemen and paramedics. She denied it (giving birth).
“The emergency room physician asked the same questions. She denied it, was non-responsive. Then they (paramedics) found the baby in the trash can (wrapped) in rice bags.”
Castillo said if the court case proceeded he intended to rely on a temporary-insanity defense, filing a “notice to rely on defense of mental disease, disorder, or defect, excluding responsibility.”
Some of this information will come out at sentencing, Castillo added.
“The big question is, whether or not at the time of the alleged offense, did she have the capacity to understand right from wrong, and to conform her conduct within the lawful requirements,” he said.
Had the case gone to trial as scheduled, “The burden would have been on me to show that her mental state was substantially impaired,” he added.
It was in his client’s best interest to accept the lesser-charge offer, Castillo said, especially since a murder conviction involving a young victim puts into play stiff mandatory sentencing, up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
If a life-with-parole sentence came down, it could still carry a minimum behind-bars time of 15 years, Castillo noted.
Craig De Costa, first deputy prosecuting attorney, explained why if the state had confidence in its murder case it offered Robles a manslaughter plea offer instead.
“Does what’s going to happen if we enter into a plea agreement satisfy the interests of justice and protect the community?” he asked.
“We feel that exposing her to the 20-year sentence, as opposed to life with the possibility of parole after so many years, that the 20 years is sufficient under the circumstances of this case,” said De Costa.
“I think the police did a good investigation. I think our experts would have come off as credible and persuasive,” De Costa said about a successful prosecution scenario had the trial proceeded.
No less than five doctors – three appointed by the court and one hired independently by each side – had been retained to determine the mental fitness of Robles at the time of the alleged crime.
The case was scheduled to have begun yesterday with a jury-waived trial, meaning Nakea would have been the sole decision-maker after hearing all the evidence.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
