Woman gets 25 years to life in prison for dropping her baby four floors to his death

An Orange County woman who was convicted last year of dropping her baby from a parking garage was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in prison.

On Aug. 22, 2011, Sonia Hermosillo, now 42, dropped her 7-month-old son, Noe Medina Jr., from the fourth floor of a parking garage at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Noe died a few days later.

In a statement to the court that Hermosillo delivered Wednesday via a Spanish-language interpreter, the La Habra woman expressed regret and asked for “an opportunity to be with my daughters,” the Orange County Register reported.

“Please, your honor, I know that what I did was wrong, but I regret doing that from the bottom of my heart,” Hermosillo said, according to the Register.

Hermosillo was arrested after reportedly returning to the area near the hospital following the incident. She was charged with first-degree murder and child assault causing death. She pleaded not guilty.

Hermosillo had removed a safety helmet Noe wore before dropping him from the parking garage, authorities said.

She was found competent to stand trial and convicted of both counts in August, after years of hearings and motions. A jury in September found her to be sane.

Hermosillo’s defense attorney had argued that she was not guilty by reason of insanity, the Register reported. Hermosillo’s husband said she suffered from postpartum psychosis after Noe was born.

Hermosillo became nearly catatonic and believed herself to be a danger to her other children, the Register reported.

One of her daughters told Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger on Wednesday that her mother “was not an evil person” and that with Noe’s birth, her “world turned upside down,” the Register reported.