Mom of child shot dead by older brother will stay in jail on neglect charges for now
A woman whose 4-yearold daughter was shot dead by an older sibling who found a loaded gun in the family’s home was denied bond and remained jailed Thursday after a judge said Family Court will first need to set the parameters for any visits that the woman would have with her three remaining children.
After denying Krystal Banegas bail, the judge set a new court date in February, the day after the defendant’s next scheduled hearing in Family Court. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Christine Bandin said with ongoing parallel court proJudge ceedings in Juvenile Dependency Court — an arm of Family Court — and criminal court, a Dependency ruling would take precedent.
As the three-day hearing that began last week neared its end and Banegas, 25, sensed the outcome, her emotions surfaced. Seated alone in the jury box, handcuffed and wearing a standard red jumpsuit, she shook her head repeatedly. When she tried to speak, she was rebuffed by her attorney. Several times, Banegas pressed her palms against her face, hiding tears.
“There’s a history of not great parenting. A history of stuff that’s happened that’s been documented,” Bandin said after poring over pages of Florida Department of Children & Families records. “First, I need to see what happens in Dependency, then I can craft something here.”
A new ruling in Dependency Court would be the third since Josalyn TaylorRolle, 4, was shot and killed by her older brother on Nov. 5, according to police. When the children were removed from Banegas and her boyfriend the day after the shooting, the Dependency Court said the mother could visit her kids twice weekly for 90 minutes at a time, but only under the strict supervision of their caretakers. Two of the children are living with their father, and the third is living with Banegas’ father.
A month later, after Banegas and her boyfriend, Quvanta Ennels, were arrested on charges related to the shooting, Dependency Court Judge Yere Marrero renewed her earlier decision. On Thursday, Bandin said she would speak with the judge and issue a ruling on Banegas’ release at a later date.
“That court has more experience with this defendant,” Bandin said, before adding that her inclination was to eventually release Banegas from jail while wearing an ankle monitor.
KIDS FIND LOADED WEAPON
On the first Sunday in November, police called to the family’s Northwest Miami-Dade home found Josalyn dead on a bedroom floor. She had been shot in the head. The weapon, they said, was 15 feet away in the kitchen. The home, investigators said, was in “disarray.”
Cockroaches and a rat were running free near food, and marijuana was found in several places, the officers said. A soft black holster was found on the bedroom floor between a door and a dresser. A bullet was recovered from a wall in the room. A loaded magazine with 10 cartridges was found in a garbage bin near the gun.
Banegas and Ennels admitted to leaving the children, ages 2, 3, 4 and 6, unattended in a bedroom. Ennels told police the 6year-old, referred to as K.W. in court filings, fired the fatal shot. Though investigators said K.W. changed his story several times, they said he was steadfast in denying he shot his sister. At one point, he said she shot herself.
Police didn’t believe him.
“As a result,” MiamiDade Police Detective Elizabeth Mata concluded in the arrest warrants, “the conclusion is clear: The co-defendant [Ennels] left an unsecured loaded firearm within the ready reach of a minor child ... who used the firearm to inflict death upon another child.”
On Dec. 4, police arrested Ennels. Banegas was arrested the next day. Both were charged with a single count of child neglect with great bodily harm and three counts of child neglect without bodily harm. Bond for each has been set at $800,000. Both face possible sentences of as much as 45 years.
STATE: BOYFRIEND MORE CULPABLE
A state prosecutor said in court that Banegas has been offered a much shorter prison term if she pleads guilty. Though he wouldn’t go into the specifics of why the plea was offered, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Khalil Quinan said the state believes Ennels is the more culpable of the two in the child’s death.
Under oath this week, Joshua Taylor-Rolle, the father of two of Banegas’ children, admitted that DCF had visited the family several times in the past. He also admitted that Banegas had defied a judge’s order not to have contact with her children after her arrest.
On Thursday, a woman who said she was willing to house Banegas under strict supervision if she’s released before her trial was questioned by defense attorney Alex Saiz and Bandin.
Banegas is scheduled to be back in court before Judge Bandin on Feb. 9.