Sentenced: Mom Avoids Prison For Infant’s Death, Sentenced To Mental Health Program

[Sugar Cookie]

Ashley Zuniga admits she's responsible for the death of her infant, Jasmine Hunsicker. Today she was sentenced, but not to prison. Instead, Judge Cindy Davis is allowing her to participate in a strict mental health program.

The dead child’s grandmother is furious. Jasmine, who is buried at Miramar National Cemetery, wasn't even 3 months old. “I feel this was murder,” Teri Hunsicker-Lawson said outside the courtroom. “Absolutely premeditated murder.”

Teri spoke today at Ashley's sentencing. The judge denied a request from CBS 8 for a camera in the courtroom, but Teri made it clear that she wanted Ashley sent to prison. “It will make me feel like she's gotten a taste of what she took from my granddaughter.. her entire freedom.”

Jasmine's parents grew up in San Diego but were living in Florida. Last summer, Ashley left her husband David and, without telling him, took the baby to California. Teri believes from that day until Jasmine's death 2 weeks later, her granddaughter was severely neglected. “That baby had no body fat,” Teri said. “When I held her at the mortuary, at the viewing, she was so light. She was so light that the dress we got her was too big and it was the smallest sized christening gown that had at the store.”

Despite Teri's pleas for prison, Ashley was sentenced to a strict mental health program. “It hurts too much and it's not fair,” Teri said with tears her eyes after the hearing.

Judge Davis’ decision also went against the recommendation of the district attorney's office. They sent us a statement heading into the hearing saying, "The District Attorney's office believes that it would be a gross miscarriage of justice for the court to grant the defendant formal probation and admission to Behavioral Health Court for the gruesome crime of starving a baby to death."

If Ashley successfully completes the program, she could be free in just 18 months. “I don't see any justice for my granddaughter in this,”

Mom avoids prison for infant’s death, sentenced to mental health program

Ashley Zuniga can still receive prison time if she doesn’t follow the program’s strict rules.

www.cbs8.com

Teri Hunsicker says her son called Ashley asking to Facetime and see Jasmine but Ashley refused.

“There was one day, and I want to say it was day 11 or 12 of the 15-day trip, that she took, that culminated in Jasmine's death, that he heard his daughter cry for the first time. And what he told me- mom, I heard her cry and it didn't sound right. He said I told her to take her to the doctors. And I said- well did she? And he said she said there’s nothing wrong with my baby. And then the next day he heard the baby cry again and he said mom, this time it was more frail and more frantic, and I told her you need to take the baby to the hospital, something’s really wrong! And she told him- don't you dare tell me what to do with my baby," Hunsicker said.

Fifteen days after she left Florida, Ashley walked into UC San Diego’s Hillcrest Emergency Room with a lifeless Jasmine.

The San Diego Police Department report describes what the ER doctor told the detective on scene.

The report reads, “Nurses brought the victim in under Code Pink for not breathing and no heartbeat. The victim was dark gray and stiff.” The report goes on to say, “The medical doctor who I had been told pronounced the time of death to the victim, came into the room, quickly checked the body, and made comments about the temporal fading along the head along with the presence of the ribs and spine showing on the victim's body leading her to say- she believed the infant was emaciated.”

Hunsicker says she got Jasmine’s baby checkups from Florida. She says Jasmine weighed almost 10 pounds when Ashley left Florida and weighed seven pounds by the time she got to UCSD’s Emergency Room two weeks later.

She says Ashley admits she could only get the baby to take two ounces of formula 2-3 times a day but for a baby Jasmine’s age, she should be drinking 17 ounces of formula a day.

“It says in the report that the mother did not seek medical care. It said the night before she died the baby refused to take a bottle. In fact, Ashley said the baby was too weak to suck. And the report says- she did not seek medical care," Hunsicker said.

Hunsicker says Ashley did not pull up to the emergency drop-off entrance. Instead, she parked in the hospital’s parking lot and took the time to lock her club on her car so the car wouldn't be stolen with her belongings in it while she took Jasmine’s body inside.

Grandmother demands autopsy in death of 3-month-old baby

Ashley Alejandra Zuniga pleaded guilty to the death of her baby last week.

www.cbs8.com

 

[Jellyfish Brain]

I feel so awful for that grandmother. There is only so much they can do. I'm not sure if they called CPS, but even then we all know how good they are at actually laying eyes on a child, and recognizing when they need help. That judge is a piece of shit.