NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The New Mexico teen who threw her newborn baby in a dumpster is now asking a judge to allow her to see the boy. Her attorneys have filed a motion to review conditions of release and are asking for more than just visitation.
“This wasn’t someone driving to the hospital, driving to a clinic, driving to a friend’s, driving to someone to seek help. She knew what she was doing at the time,” said a prosecutor during a preliminary hearing for Alexis Avila on February 28.
During that hearing, the judge declared there was enough evidence to go to trial for child abuse. It was January 7 when good Samaritans found the baby boy in a dumpster in Hobbs.
“In my 27 years of doing this, I have never seen anyone, child or adult, have a temperature that was not read with a digital thermometer,” prosecutors said during the hearing. They argued Avila’s actions were intentional in harming the infant.
Meanwhile, Avila’s defense attorneys made the case that she shouldn’t face felony child abuse with great bodily harm since the baby survived. Now, her attorneys are asking to grant permission for Avila to have supervised visits with the boy who lives with his teenage dad.
The night of her arrest, she was already asking to get the boy back. “If the baby is okay, I want it,” said Avila.
Her attorneys state she is attending counseling and is in parenting classes. They also say she completed her high school diploma requirement and has been accepted to a college where she’ll study psychology.
The boy’s father didn’t even know that she was still pregnant when she gave birth. Prosecutors are going to fight this. The only part of the motion they currently agree with is to allow Alexis Avila to be in her backyard while on house arrest.
Alexis Avila would also like to court to grant her permission to have contact with family members who are under the age of 10. No date has been set to hear this motion.