Santa Ana Woman Who Drowned Daughter Sentenced To 25 Years To Life In Prison
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — A bipolar Santa Ana woman who was found to be legally sane when she drowned her infant daughter in a bathtub was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison.
Lucero Carrera, 30, was convicted in January of first-degree murder and child assault causing death for drowning 2-month-old Kimberly Gutierrez in a whirlpool bath in a trailer park at 518 S. Sullivan St. on June 29, 2012.
If the jury had found Carrera was insane at the time of the killing, she could have been sent to a state mental institution for as long as a prison sentence would be, or be treated as an outpatient.
Carrera was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a toddler, but was sent back when she was 7 because she was "unstable," defense attorney Kira Rubin said. Carrera returned to the U.S. when she was a teenager and was first hospitalized at 15 years old for a suicide attempt.
Experts say Carrera, who alternates between manic and passive phases, has a schizo-affective disorder, according to Rubin, who said one expert concluded Carrera suffered from "altruistic filicide," leading her to kill her child.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson said there's no dispute that Carrera is bipolar, but he told jurors that she was exaggerating her symptoms to avoid prosecution, a concept known as "malingering," and used her illness as a "Get Out of Jail Free Card."
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