Attorney: Peña in plea talks with DA
Jeremiah Valencia’s mother faces charges of child abuse, tampering with evidence
Tracy Ann Peña, accused of child abuse in connection with the death of her 13-year-old son, Jeremiah Valencia, is working on a plea deal with state prosecutors, District Attorney Marco Serna said Tuesday.
Peña’s lawyer, in a surprise move on Monday, asked to skip a hearing set for Wednesday at which the lawyer was expected to argue that his client should not be kept in jail pending trial.
Public defender Michael Rosenfield said in his motion: “Parties have reached an agreement in principle which would require Ms. Peña to remain in custody.”
Serna confirmed by email that his office is in plea discussions with Peña.
“Hopefully we’ll have something by the end of the week,” Rosenfield told The New Mexican. “Nothing has been finalized.” Peña and a co-defendant, 20-year--
old Jordan Anthony Nuñez, both face child abuse and evidence tampering charges in relation to the teen’s alleged torture and eventual death in a home near Nambé in November.
Thomas Wayne Ferguson, Peña’s boyfriend and Nuñez’s father, was charged with first-degree murder in the boy’s death. Ferguson killed himself in jail in April while awaiting trial.
Prosecutors have said new evidence suggests Nuñez delivered the fatal blow to Valencia. Nuñez could face additional charges in the boy’s death, prosecutors say in court filings.
According to one of Nuñez’s attorneys, Theresa Duncan, Nuñez will be present at Wednesday’s hearing, at which his defense team is expected to argue that he is not dangerous enough to warrant incarceration until trial.
Nuñez’s attorneys are expected to call Jeremiah’s younger sister to the stand at Wednesday’s hearing. Her testimony has been a point of contention during the early proceedings in the case. State prosecutors argued that she should not be called to testify because it could set back her emotional recovery from trauma.
After Judge Matthew Wilson ruled the girl would have to take the stand, a Children, Youth and Families Department employee asked the court to allow the girl to speak under special circumstances, without having to face Peña and Nuñez in the room.
Wilson declined, saying the girl does not qualify for alternative methods of testifying.
On Monday, a lawyer for the department asked the court to quash a subpoena directing the girl to testify, arguing that the girl’s future and emotional well-being could be negatively impacted and that it would be challenging for her to testify in front of her extended family in the courtroom.
As of Tuesday evening, Wilson’s ruling on the motion had not been posted on a digital court filing system.