New Trial Date Scheduled for Mother in Iowa City Infant Death Incident

The mother of the Iowa City infant who died from suspicious injuries in April will be tried separately from her boyfriend.

Mireya Balderas, 19, was originally scheduled to be tried on Dec. 11 at the same time as Jorge Perez, 21, the man accused of two counts of felony child endangerment resulting in the death of 20-month-old Marcus Balderas. Balderas is charged with one count of child endangerment resulting in death for causing some of the injuries and not protecting the child from Perez.

These charges are class B felonies punishable for up to 50 years in prison for each charge.

According to online court records, on Nov. 6 a judge granted a request from Balderas to have her trial severed from Perez's, with her trial rescheduled to July 9, 2013. Perez's trial has not been reset, and is still at the moment scheduled to be held starting next Tuesday.

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 University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 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.