A California mother whose 1-year-old son died after being left in a hot car has accepted a plea deal that will send her to prison for 15 years.
Maya Hernandez pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter on February 11. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a first-degree murder charge, according to local reports.
Hernandez had been accused of leaving her two young sons — 1-year-old Amillio Gutierrez and his 2-year-old brother — inside a parked car in Bakersfield in June 2025 while she went to get lip filler injections.
Court documents previously reported by local outlets state that when Hernandez returned to the vehicle, Amillio was unresponsive. Authorities later said the toddler’s body temperature had reached 107 degrees. He did not survive. His older brother lived.
Hernandez initially went to trial in December on a murder charge, but the case ended in a mistrial after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Rather than pursue another murder trial, the Kern County District Attorney’s Office negotiated the plea agreement.
Hernandez is expected to be formally sentenced in March and will serve 15 years behind bars.
In the days after Amillio’s death, his aunt shared a heartbreaking message on a GoFundMe page created for the family.
“He was loved by so many, and we are all heartbroken that we will never see his beautiful smile again,” she wrote. “His brother will no longer have car rides or be able to see his little precious baby brother again.”
STOP giving murderers plea deals! They KNOW she did it so why offer a plea deal? Put her in a hot car all day and if she survives, throw her in prison for the rest of her sorry life.
This trashy spik can have all the lip fillers in prison she can get.
Stupidity personified.WHY DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE KIDS, PROBABLY FIR THE MONEY THEY GET FREE SO THEY COULD DO STUPID THINGS