Mother, grandfather and uncle will be tried together in exorcism killing of toddler
SAN JOSE — The mother, grandfather and uncle of a three-year-old girl who died during an exorcism at San Jose church will be tried together on charges connected to her death, after a judge ruled Monday that prosecutors could consolidate the cases.
Barring a formal objection from their attorneys, the three suspects — Claudia Hernandez, the girl’s mother; Rene Trigueros Hernandez, her grandfather; and Rene Hernandez Santos, her uncle — will now be tried together on August 9 on charges of felony child abuse resulting in death, after allegedly killing the three-year-old, Arely Naomi Proctor, during a daylong church ceremony aimed at ridding the toddler of “evil spirits.”
The decision comes about a month after Trigueros Hernandez, 59, and Hernandez Santos, 19, were arrested in connection with the alleged ritual exorcism, which took place at their small Pentecostal church in South San Jose eight months earlier. Claudia Hernandez was arrested on Jan. 31, though her arrest — and Arely’s death
— were not made public at the time. if convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
Hernandez Santos’ attorney Edward Sousa said a plea isn’t coming any time soon.
“We’ll have to discuss pleas down the road, I don’t know if a plea will be entered on August 9 or not at this point,” Sousa said. “We don’t have all the discovery in the case, we have some initial discovery but there’s a whole bunch that’s missing.”
It remains unclear why it took so long to make arrests in the gruesome killing of a child months before. Arely’s death only became public knowledge in May after San Jose police searched the church where the exorcism occurred while looking for a kidnapped 3-month-old boy, who was allegedly taken by a member of the church.
Her death was ruled a homicide by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office, which found that she died of asphyxiation. In court records, investigators said that she died after being denied food for hours, and after being held down repeatedly by relatives in the ritual exorcism.