West Valley woman pleads guilty in death of child

Crying before a judge, a West Valley woman said she didn't call police when her 14-month-old son fell into a seizure because she didn't want to go to jail.

On the day she was expected to stand trial for first-degree felony murder, Mesepa Heimuli, 29, struggled through strong emotions in telling the 3rd District Court judge what she did.

"He was shaking in his crib and his eyes rolled back and I didn't call 911," Heimuli said. "Because I had bruises on him and I was afraid of going to jail."

Heimuli said she did try to perform CPR on her son and said her son had no prior history of seizures.

Prosecutors claim the child died from a closed head injury and that there were bruises and scratches on the boy's body. Both Heimuli and her husband did not call police for several hours after finding the boy dead in his crib.

In a last-minute plea deal, Heimuli pleaded guilty Monday to one count of child abuse homicide, a third-degree felony.

Heimuli's attorney, Ralph Dellapiana, said his client took the plea deal because there was a substantial risk that a jury would have found her guilty of murder, a first-degree felony, had the case went forward to trial.

After her plea, jurors who were waiting in another room, were dismissed.

Heimuli is scheduled to be sentenced March 14.