Hanford woman facing criminal charges for stillbirth of baby

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- In December of 2017, Hanford native, 34-year-old Adora Perez gave birth to her 10th child, who was a stillborn baby.

Court documents show a doctor believed the baby died because of extensive drug use by Perez and advised law enforcement the mother tested positive for methamphetamine and THC.

In May of 2018, the Kings County District Attorney filed a complaint charging Perez with murder of a fetus and voluntary manslaughter.

"She pleaded to manslaughter and then was sentenced to Chowchilla Women's Prison," says attorney Mary McNamara.

She was sentenced to 11 years, but two years ago, Mary McNamara picked up her case pro-bono.

Perez successfully withdrew her plea to manslaughter just last month and was transferred from prison to the Kings County jail to await the next steps in her case. During a court hearing Wednesday morning, Perez received the support McNamara says she's needed for a long time.

The judge ordered Perez to be transferred to San Francisco for a 90-day residential drug treatment program.

However, her case is still set for a preliminary hearing to face a murder charge on April 19th.

In January of this year, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a legal alert to all California district attorneys, police chiefs, and sheriffs giving hope to women like Perez.

"It's the public policy of this state that women get treatment and not prosecution," he said.

Tuesday evening, people in Kings County united to protest with signs reading "do not criminalize pregnancy loss."

We reached out to the Kings County District Attorney's Office about this case but did not receive a response.

McNamara says she wants to encourage women facing similar situations to send letters to the state assembly and seek resources.