Murder Counts Dismissed in Baby’s Cocaine Death

Murder charges were dismissed Monday against a Costa Mesa couple in connection with the death of their 2-month-old daughter by a cocaine overdose in 1986.

Municipal Judge James P. Gray ruled that there was insufficient evidence to try Gilbert and Debbie Delgado on second-degree murder charges. But Gray ordered the couple to stand trial on charges of child endangerment and narcotics possession.

“This is truly a tragedy. The only good thing in this case is that it doesn’t happen very often,� Gray said before dismissing the murder charges in his Santa Ana courtroom during the couple’s second preliminary hearing on the charges.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King said he may appeal Gray’s decision or pursue second-degree murder charges against the couple.

“We are very, very disappointed,� King said. “We felt that there was sufficient facts for the second-degree murder charges.�

Gilbert Delgado, 25, and his wife, 22, were charged with murder in the death of their daughter, Stephanie, on Sept. 11, 1986. Originally, the infant’s death had been listed as sudden infant death syndrome. However, tests later revealed that the baby had died of an overdose of cocaine.

When Gray announced his decision, the couple let out a sigh, and Debbie Delgado began crying. Smiling, the Delgados rushed out of the courtroom, refusing to talk to reporters. The Delgados were the first parents in Orange County to be charged with murder in a drug overdose death of a child.

The Delgados face trial on two counts of child endangerment, one relating to the death of Stephanie Delgado. In the second count, they are accused of using and selling drugs around their infant son, Gilbert Jr., who was born about a year after Stephanie’s death. The boy was removed from their custody by county authorities at the time of their arrest.

The drug charges still pending against the couple are for possession of large quantity of cocaine and marijuana allegedly found by investigators when the Delgados were arrested in connection with their daughter’s death.

The Delgados were not charged with murder until more than a year after the baby’s death, in part because of a delay in the drug overdose finding as the cause of death, and because police could not find them. The couple had changed their names and moved from Santa Ana to Costa Mesa.

In January, after their first preliminary hearing on child endangerment and narcotics charges, a municipal judge ordered the Delgados to stand trial in Superior Court. A week later, the prosecutor raised the charges to murder based on information supplied by Debbie Delgado’s brother, Bruce Chavez, the prosecution’s chief witness.

Those charges were dropped briefly when Chavez, 26, eluded investigators for three months. Charges were reinstated against the Delgados after Chavez was arrested and held in the Orange County Jail as a material witness.

During the second preliminary hearing, Chavez testified that he saw his sister and her husband take cocaine on their kitchen counter, the same place were he said he saw the baby’s formula bottles and nipples.

Chavez also testified that in his frequent visits to the Delgados’ apartment he observed regular drug dealing and drug use. In exchange for his testimony, the district attorney’s office gave Chavez immunity from any possible prosecution for his own drug use.

The disappointed prosecutor said he and others in his office would read the transcripts from the lengthy preliminary hearing and Gray’s legal reasons for dropping the murder charges before deciding whether to challenge the ruling. Under the law, the prosecution has the right to appeal a court decision in a preliminary hearing.

The primary reason Gray dismissed the charges, the judge said, was that there were insufficient facts presented during the hearing to infer “implied malice� on the part of the Delgados. King had argued that “the environment these defendants created� had caused Stephanie Delgado’s death.

“The (state) Supreme Court may have to determine that,� King said.

The prosecutor said a decision on whether to challenge Gray’s reasons for dropping the murder charges will be made before Aug. 5, when the Delgados must appear before a Superior Court for the setting of a trial date on the other charges.

Under second-degree murder charges, the Delgados could have faced a prison sentence of 15 years to life. The maximum sentence for child endangerment is six years in prison.

Although Gray dropped the murder charges against the couple, he said he felt “profound indignation� about testimony that showed that Gilbert Delgado had continued to deal drugs from the time of his daughter’s death until the couple’s arrest.

“I think that is absolutely intolerable,� Gray said as he looked at the pair. “And it is with some pleasure that I order they be held to answer on those charges.�

Gilbert Delgado remains free on $100,000 bail, and his wife remains out of jail on $50,000 bail.