A woman was convicted Thursday of murdering her 4-year-old daughter, who was found unresponsive in a vehicle in East Los Angeles just over two years ago.
The downtown Los Angeles jury found Maria Del Refugio Avalos, now 40, guilty of one count each of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death.
Jurors had notified Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Karla D. Kerlin that they were deadlocked on a special finding that the crime was done willfully, deliberately and with premeditation, which is needed for a first-degree murder conviction.
The panel quickly found Avalos guilty of the lesser count of second-degree murder within minutes after the prosecution agreed to withdraw the special finding.
Avalos is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom for sentencing May 8.
She is facing a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison.
The girl’s family identified her as Mia Gonzalez, while the criminal complaint listed her name only as “Mia G.”
The girl died from the combined effects of strangulation and sharp force injury of the wrist, according to records from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner.
Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri argued that the girl was “cold” and “had been dead for a period of days” when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were summoned Jan. 25, 2024, saying that the woman put her daughter in “nice clothes and then ruined them with her blood.”
“… This wasn’t rash or impulsive. She thought about it. She did it,” the prosecutor said in her closing argument, arguing that Avalos had turned the girl “into a pawn” in her conflict with the girl’s father.
Defense attorney Donna Gomez countered that her client sunk into despair after the family that the girl’s father had promised her was over, and said she feared that her daughter — who was “loved by her mother” — would be taken away from her by the Department of Children and Family Services.
“… She did the unthinkable without thinking,” Avalos’ lawyer told jurors. “It’s a decision made rashly.”
The girl was found in the vehicle in the 4800 block of Civic Center Way, a couple of blocks south of the Pomona (60) Freeway, and taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Avalos was detained at the scene and subsequently arrested for suspicion of murder, sheriff’s officials said.
She has remained behind bars since then.