, 20, the man accused of two counts of felony child endangerment resulting in the death of 20-month-old Marcus Balderas in late April has had his trial set for December according to online court documents.
Earlier this week, Perez's jury trial was set for Dec. 11, and his pretrial conference will be on Nov. 30.
The boy's mother, Mireya Balderas, 18, accused of one count of the same crime for allegedly being an accessory to the death, had already had her conference and trial set for these same dates and both Perez and Balderas will be tried at the same time. Both entered their pleas of not guilty this summer, according to court records.
These charges are class B felonies punishable for up to 50 years in prison for each charge.
Balderas and Perez were charged with the crime after an emergency call to a home on Waterfront Drive was not enough to say Marcus' life and later an autopsy reportedly revealed he had died of severe physical trauma.
At 12:06 p.m. on April 30, police and members of the Iowa City Fire Department and Johnson County Ambulance Service responded to an apartment at 2018 Waterfront Drive, No. 120, in response to a report of a child, Marcus Balderas, who was having difficulty breathing. The child was taken to the , where he later died.
According to police, medical examination following the death showed that Marcus had broken ribs, multiple bruises on his head, face, back and stomach, internal injuries, and internal bleeding in his head. After the autopsy was performed, the manner of death was listed as homicide with the cause being blunt force injuries of the head.
After speaking with the couple, police determined that the couple had allegedly assaulted Marcus because he would not go to sleep. Perez allegedly admitted to hitting Marcus on his head with his knuckles at least twice and also slapping him in the face, holding a pillow over his face multiple times because the boy would not sleep, stepping hard on the baby's stomach, and tossing him from three to four feet high onto the ground and not catching him.
"I never meant to kill him, it was just an accident," Perez allegedly told investigators.
Balderas also allegedly took part in the assault on her child, hitting him numerous time in the head, putting a pillow over his face, and witnessing the assaults initiated by Perez against her child and not stopping him.
