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Murder charge against SE man dismissed

NEW ULM — Six charges against a 45-year-old Sleepy Eye man accused of causing the death of an 11-week-old infant in January 2018 were dismissed Tuesday.

In an order signed by Brown County District Court Judge Robert Docherty Tuesday, a motion to dismiss was granted. Charges of felony 2nd-degree murder, 1st-degree assault, 1st-degree manslaughter, 2nd-degree manslaughter, misdemeanor 5th-degree assault and felony neglect of a child against Jose Isabel Rodriguez Limones, 318 Maple St. S.W., were dismissed.

Rodriguez Limones was released from the Brown County Jail to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Brown County Attorney Chuck Hanson said he was “disappointed with the outcome of the case, but respected Judge Docherty’s decision.”

“He was absolutely right,” Rodriguez Limones’ attorney Kevin O’Connor Green of Mankato said of Judge Docherty’s decision. “We had our own set of experts including a radiologist and a Detroit medical examiner who said there wasn’t enough there. All medical examiners agreed they could not determine the cause of death. That was the scientific conclusion. Science beat this case.”

“I think the judge did exactly as he was supposed to do. The prosecution did their job and I did mine,” O’Connor Green said. “Chuck does a great job. He’s a very good prosecutor and he’s an upright man.”

The cause of the infant’s death was preliminarily reported to be respiratory failure, secondary to severe traumatic brain injury, according to court documents.

On Jan. 2, 2018, Sleepy Eye Police got a fax from a mandated reporter and doctor at Sleepy Eye Medical Center, informing them of a possible child abuse case involving an 11-week-old boy born to Rodriguez Limones and Christina Hinojosa. The fax read that the baby was brought to the hospital earlier that morning with seizures and was found to have extensive subdural hemorrhage and brain injury.

In addition, the fax read that there was no history of trauma to explain the findings that were highly concerning for inflicted injury and child physical abuse, specifically for abusive head trauma.

Police were contacted by a Children’s Hospital social worker who talked with police, the victim’s parents and an interpreter on speaker phone. Rodriguez Limones and Hinojosa said they were the primary care givers, did not abuse the victim and nothing happened.

In an interview, the baby’s parents said they noticed he was not behaving normally on Dec. 25, was crying and waking more often, spat up his formula, seemed “out of it” and was unresponsive.

On the night before admission to Children’s Hospital, Hinojosa went to work and Rodriguez Limones was alone with the baby. He said the child was trembling but took a bottle well, was burped, and put to bed twice, woke up and seemed very jerky. Rodriguez Limones said he took the baby to Sleepy Eye Medical Center where he was evaluated and transferred to Children’s Hospital.

An examiner noted the baby was evaluated at the Midwest Children’s Resource Center (MCRC) for possible physical abuse due to mental status changes and seizures and was found on head CT to have extensive intracranial bleeding and brain injury. The finding of subdural bleeding and brain injury are highly associated with abusive head trauma, according to court documents.

In addition, the examiner noted the extent of the baby’s brain injury suggested that at least one event would be described as “terminal” and would render him neurologically devastated.

In addition, the examiner noted it was likely one event occurred immediately before the baby became acutely gravely ill on Jan. 2, and possibly ongoing events occurred over the prior several days to weeks. The finding was supported by the description of him having become irritable and having a temperament change after Dec. 25.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.

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