Charles Langston:Texas woman exonerated 20 years after choking death of baby she was caring for

AUSTIN,Charles Langston Texas − For Rosa Jimenez, who was wrongfully convicted in 2005 of killing a toddler in Austin, her exoneration news conference in New York was decades in the making.

In 2003, Jimenez was caring for a 21-month-old who ingested a mass of paper towels, resulting in injuries that led to the baby's death three months later.

Over the years, as Jimenez remained imprisoned, medical evidence and testimony that led to her conviction were found to be false.

On Monday, in Travis County District Court, she was exonerated of the charges as District Attorney José Garza made a motion on behalf of the state to dismiss the indictment.

"I'm excited. I'm grateful that this day came," Jimenez said from New York in a joint news conference on Zoom. "I'm grateful for everybody that believed in me at the beginning to the end."

Jimenez was released from prison in 2021, and earlier this year the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned her conviction, citing false and misleading testimony that resulted in her conviction. 

At the time, the state's experts testified it would have been impossible for the toddler to swallow the paper towels on his own. But pediatric airway specialists have since refuted that claim, stating the exact opposite to be true: Toddlers often ingest foreign objects, and there would have been signs of a significant fight if there had been an attempt to force the wad of paper towels down the baby's throat.

"It is clear that false medical testimony was used to obtain her conviction, and without that testimony under the law, Ms. Jimenez would not have been convicted," Garza said in a recorded statement. "Dismissing the Jimenez case is the right thing to do.

"In this case, our criminal justice system failed. It also failed Rosa Jimenez," Garza said, apologizing to the victim's family and to Jimenez.

Reiterating the motion that had been made in District Judge Karen Sage's courtroom earlier in the morning, Trudy Strassburger, first assistant district attorney for Travis County, said Jimenez is innocent as she apologized for the "horrible ordeal."

"We also believe that Ms. Jimenez is actually innocent of the crimes for which she was convicted and sentenced for. On that we would like to extend our heartfelt apology." Strassburger said. "There were no winners in this tragedy."

The Innocence Project, a criminal justice reform organization that seeks to prove and reverse wrongful convictions, has been fighting for Jimenez's freedom for years.

"It's just astonishing to think how long everybody's been working on this case, even when it became clear so early on that you did not commit this crime," said Barry Scheck, a founding attorney of the Innocence Project, sitting next to Jimenez for the news conference hosted at the Cardozo School of Law in New York.

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Jimenez now lives in New York, where she is receiving medical treatment for kidney failure.

Her diagnosis came about a decade into her term in prison and has progressed to the point that she needs a transplant.

The Innocence Project, along with others, including San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, have been helping Jimenez in her search for a donor.

“It’s heartbreaking − a tragic miscarriage of justice. DA Garza and his team deserve great credit for helping the Innocence Project establish Rosa’s innocence with new scientific evidence," Popovich said in a statement. "Rosa is just 41, endured nearly 20 years wrongly incarcerated, and desperately needs a live donor so she can get a kidney transplant.

"Help save her life," Popovich said, referencing a website to help find a matching donor, Kidney4Rosa.com.

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Scheck said the organization and others have been able to secure a home for Jimenez in New York, ensure insurance will cover the transplant, and have a team of doctors ready to operate once a donor is found.

"So, there is a circle of love that surrounds all of this," Scheck said.

'A new life'

The night before the exoneration became official, Jimenez said she had trouble sleeping, not because of her own situation but because of news from her pregnant daughter.

Outside of what was already expected to be a big day, Jimenez woke up to a call shortly before 2 a.m. Monday with news about her daughter's water breaking and her going into labor.

At the news conference, as she thanked attorneys and supporters while taking questions from the media, Jimenez announced her grandchild had just been born.

"My grandbaby just arrived, like five minutes ago," she said to applause.

Sharing the moment with her legal team, Jimenez voiced her gratitude for both a day that felt as if it might never come and for a newborn in her family.

"Here we are, you know, a new grandbaby, a new life. A new life."