Horrifying trial of LQ woman accused of killing daughter finally nears its end

Closing arguments are scheduled this morning in the trialof a La Quinta woman accused of causing the death of her 3-year-old daughterand abusing another daughter.

Yolanda Guadalupe Pena, 43, faces one count each of murder, torture andassaulting a child causing great bodily injury and five counts of inflictinginjury on a child. Those five injury counts relate to a daughter who was 12 atthe time.

Pena, who is in custody in lieu of $1 million bail, was arrested June30, 2009, in connection with her younger daughter’s death. She faces life inprison if convicted.

The toddler, Delilah Urrutia, suffered head trauma, second-degree burnson her face, neck, chest, back and arms, cuts and bruises, and lost parts ofthree fingers, according to police and prosecutors.

Delilah was dead when authorities arrived at her home in the 44000 blockof Vista Dunes Lane in La Quinta about 10:15 p.m. on June 25, 2009, accordingto the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Pena had an affair whilemarried and the 12-year-old daughter — who Pena is accused of abusing — toldher father about it, leading to the breakup of the marriage.

“Pena blamed Delilah, who was fathered by the man with whom Pena had anaffair, for why she never reconciled with her former husband,” a statementfrom the DA’s Office alleges.

Deputy District Attorney Lisa DiMaria told jurors last week that Penasent Delilah to live with a relative of her best friend when the girl was about2, then took her back several months later.

Pena allegedly physically abused Delilah and one of her two olderdaughters. Pena allegedly told the daughter who hadn’t been abused that shewould be punished, too, unless she reported her sisters’ misdeeds to her, theprosecutor said.

DiMaria said Delilah and an older sister would sometimes sit in thebathtub while hot and cold water were poured over them. Other times, Delilahwas tied up in a plastic bin and put in a closet, with her mouth duct-taped,DiMaria alleged.

The day Delilah died, one of the older daughters — who was about 11 –was home with the girl, the prosecutor said. The older daughter told theirmother, who was at work, that Delilah was misbehaving, DiMaria said.

“So the defendant ordered (her daughter) to get a cup of water and heatit in the microwave … and pour it on her sister,” DiMaria told jurors inher opening statement. “And she did that all day.”

When Pena got home, she saw Delilah looking at her older sister, whichwasn’t allowed, “so the defendant started hitting Delilah in the head, hard. (The older daughter) says she did it more than 20 times, and that’s supportedby the massive brain bleed suffered by this little girl,” DiMaria said.

Pena left to go to her best friend’s house after allegedly tying thetoddlers’ wrists and ankles, putting a sock in her mouth and a stocking overher head, DiMaria said. She was left in a plastic bin.

Later that night, once Pena and the older daughter came home, Penauntied Delilah and told the older girl to check her pulse. She didn’t feel oneand called her mother’s best friend, then 911.

“The defendant also told (her daughter): `Do not tell police whathappened. Tell them she poured water on herself and that she hits herself,”‘DiMaria said.

Pena’s attorney, Thomas Cavanaugh, told jurors last week that his clientwas a “very conscientious, hardworking single parent” who struggled tosupport her family. Pena was a housekeeper at Eisenhower Medical Center.

He said Pena was a “very fastidious woman” whose discipline of herchildren “warped into abuse.” She disciplined them when they didn’t get goodgrades or did something wrong.

“This is a case of a struggling mother who crossed the line and becameabusive, but with those goals in mind,” Cavanaugh said.

Delilah, he said, was a “troubled child” who struggled in the strictenvironment and acted out. He said Pena was very upset and emotional when herdaughter died.

“Despite the evidence of abuse … Ms. Pena did not intend or cause thedeath of her child on the day in question,” Cavanaugh said.