Mother of severely beaten Iowa City toddler sentenced in relation to his death

A prosecutor said Friday during a sentencing hearing that 18-month-old Marcus Balderas had been a happy, thriving little boy, but that all changed when his mother Mireya Balderas moved in with boyfriend Jorge Perez.

Assistant Johnson County Attorney Dana Christianson, showing a photo of Marcus about two months later, said what happened to the boy was 'pure torture.” The child had a variety of injuries causing his death at 20-months-old. The autopsy showed Marcus had organ damage to the liver and diaphragm, which occurred within days before his death, five fractured ribs and he ultimately died from blunt force injury to the head on April 30, 2012.

Perez has pleaded guilty to causing the injuries that resulted in the young child's death.

Mark Meyers, Mireya Balderas's lawyer, argued Mireya, who was 18 at the time, wasn't responsible for Marcus' death and wasn't even home the day Marcus died. He also pointed out Mireya suffered from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a forensic psychologist.

Meyers asked the court to suspend her sentence and give her probation.

However, after Mireya Balderas, tearing up at times, asked for 'mercy,” saying she failed as a mother and has to live with the shame she feels every day, 6th Judicial District Judge Mitchell Turner in a stern tone told her she isn't the victim:

'Marcus was,” he said.

Turner told her the child endangerment charges had nothing to do with her child's death.

'Let us not forgot that a tiny life was lost and while you didn't cause his death, your inaction made it possible,” Turner said. 'If you would have loved Marcus like (you said) your parents loved you – he would be alive today. There are consequences for choices we make.”

Turner sentenced Mireya Balderas, 21, to 25 years in prison but ran the four counts concurrently for a total of 10 years to serve in prison.

Balderas made an Alford plea last year to child endangerment, neglect of a dependent person, and three counts of child endangerment resulting in bodily injury. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains innocence but admits the prosecutor likely has enough evidence to convict.

Balderas at the plea admitted to participating and permitting ex-boyfriend Jorge Perez, also convicted in the case, to physically abusing Marcus from Jan. 1 to April 30, 2012.

Balderas also admitted to allowing Perez to care for Marcus, during which time the boy sustained the acute subdural hemorrhage and injury to his liver, right adrenal gland and diaphragm.

Marcus died of blunt force trauma to the head while in Perez's care, documents show. Perez, 23, pleaded guilty last June to child endangerment resulting in death and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Christianson said the state wasn't arguing that Mireya 'dealt the death blow.” Perez is responsible for his death and has been convicted of this crime. However, Marcus was only a toddler and couldn't protect himself, so 'his only hope was his mother.”

Christianson said Mireya didn't protect her child from Perez. She had somewhere else to go. Her parents 'pleaded” with her to come back home and live with them but she refused.

He showed texts during the hearing between Mireya and Perez, indicating Mireya knew Marcus had bruises on his face and knew Perez had hit him. She even tells him it would be better for Perez to hit him on the bottom, so the doctor doesn't see it.

Mireya's mother, Alma Balderas testified her daughter was never a violent or aggressive person. She was sexually assaulted at 14 and she changed and became depressed and withdrawn. She then met Perez and he 'took her over.”

'There was something bad about him,” Alma Balderas said tearing up. 'She went downhill when she met Jorge Perez.”

Dr. Mark Mills, a forensic psychiatrist, testified about an evaluation he conducted on Mireya in November 2015, which showed she had major depression, anxiety related disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. There was no indication of violence. She had 'tremendous” guilt for not taking Marcus out of the abusive situation with Perez, he said.