Trial of Iowa City Man Accused in 20-Month-Old Infant's Death Delayed Until Next Fall

The man accused in the death of an Iowa City infant who died from suspicious injuries in April has had his trial rescheduled to next fall.

Jorge Perez, 21, is facing two counts of felony child endangerment resulting in the death of 20-month-old Marcus Balderas. The Marcus' mother Mireya Balderas, 19, has been charged with one count of child endangerment resulting in death for causing some of the injuries and not protecting her child from Perez. 

These charges are class B felonies punishable for up to 50 years in prison for each charge. Perez is now scheduled to have his trial on Sept. 17, 2013 according to online court records filed today in the Johnson County Courthouse.

Perez and Balderas were originally scheduled to be tried at the same time starting tomorrow, but a judge allowed the severing of the trial date on Nov. 6 and Mireya Balderas . 

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.