Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Estrella Meza Ojeda, 19, was sentenced to three years in jail and four years probation for attempted murder in her infant son's death.
- She initially faced charges including aggravated murder and obstruction of justice but accepted a plea deal.
- Ojeda must complete mental health treatment if not deported after serving her sentence.
HEBER CITY — A 19-year-old woman was ordered to spend three years in jail and four years on probation after pleading no contest to attempted murder in the death of her 1-month-old son.
Estrella Meza Ojeda was initially charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and desecration of a human body, a third-degree felony. Charging documents said she planned her son's death and deprived him of the supplemental oxygen he needed to survive.
She entered her plea on Wednesday, pleading no contest to a reduced charge of attempted murder, a first-degree felony; and guilty to each of the other two counts as charged. She admitted that her infant died around Sept. 11, 2023, and instead of reporting the death, she hid his body and gave false statements about his death to law enforcement.
A police booking affidavit says Ojeda was overwhelmed as a teen mother with caring for a premature baby. It said she not only disposed of her son's body along I-80 but also attempted to erase traces of his birth and life.
The son, identified in documents as "D.O.," was born Aug. 6, 2023, and spent 22 days in the newborn intensive care unit before going home with Ojeda. In early September, charges said Ojeda searched the internet for how to take a baby's life and locations of garbage dumps.
Ojeda was not found when state workers tried to conduct welfare checks on Sept. 11 and Sept. 14, 2023. She was located on Sept. 19, 2023, at a home in Kamas, but investigators said she did not give any information about where her son was, eventually saying she had sent him to Mexico to live with her mother.
When she was questioned later, charging documents say Ojeda admitted that after taking her son to the store without his oxygen she noticed he was not breathing and had died. Then she placed his body in a blanket near some crosses off of the road in Parleys Canyon, charges said.
Fourth District Judge Jennifer Mabey entered prison sentences during Wednesday's hearing for each of the charges — five years to life for attempted murder, one to 15 years for obstruction of justice, and zero to five years for desecration of a human body. But the judge also suspended those sentences in favor of one year in jail for each charge and four years of probation to follow.
Ojeda, who is from Mexico and has an immigration hold, stood between her attorney and an interpreter who translated the hearing into Spanish for her. She answered "yes" in English when asked if she understood that if she violates the probation terms, the court could still order her to spend time in prison.
Deputy Wasatch County attorney Samuel Wade said his experience is that when someone has no criminal history and has a removal order from the federal government because of their immigration status, they get released from prison earlier than the minimum sentence because the federal order takes precedence over a state order.
"The state's goal in this was to get the four and a half years … instead of it being a potential of much less," he said.
Ojeda's attorney, J. Edward Jones, said he and his client accepted the plea deal because they wanted to make sure her incarceration time wasn't any greater.
Mabey agreed with Wade's comment and said although it seems like the jail sentence is minimal, it actually ensures Ojeda spends more time incarcerated than a full prison sentence, and takes into account her age and immigration status. The judge said one year is the maximum that Ojeda could be sentenced to jail for each charge.
Mabey also clarified that she had agreed to accept the attorneys' sentencing recommendations during a conference prior to the hearing, and the plea was entered with the understanding that she would follow the sentence. This included an agreement that Ojeda would not receive any credit for the year and four months she had already spent in jail.
After her three years in jail, if she is not deported to Mexico, or if she returns to the United States during probation, Ojeda will be required to complete mental health treatment, Mabey said.
