New Mexico Supreme Court upholds conviction in 2018 death of 2-year-old girl

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld a child abuse conviction on Monday of a Las Cruces man who was found guilty of killing a two-year-old girl in 2018.

In 2023, a jury found Lalo Castrillo guilty of abusing two-year-old Faviola Rodriguez to death. Rodriguez was left in Castrillo’s care by the toddler’s mother, Saundra Gonzales, who had left for work. An autopsy revealed that Rodriguez sustained blunt-force trauma to her head and body.

According to the state Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday, it unanimously rejected arguments made by Castrillo that there was not enough evidence for the jury to find that he caused the death of Rodriguez.

Castrillo had requested that the district court grant him a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, a photo the child’s mother posted on social media after the trial, which showed the child with a bruise on her head.

At a hearing on the request, the justices noted that the photo in question was taken six months before the child’s death

“Because the photo was taken months before both Victim’s death and the two earlier injuries Defendant claims caused her death, we conclude that the evidence was not material and therefore that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Defendant’s motion for a new trial,” the Court wrote.

As a result, the state Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Castrillo for intentional child abuse resulting in the death of Rodriguez and denied the request for a new trial.

During the 2023 trial, a doctor with the office of the medical investigator testified that a combination of blunt injuries to the head caused Rodriguez’s death.

“Here, the State presented medical evidence such that a reasonable juror could find that the acute blunt force injuries Victim suffered were inflicted while she was in Defendant’s exclusive care and that the injuries were not accidental,” the Court stated in the decision written by Justice Briana H. Zamora. “Two witnesses testified that on the day she was injured, Victim had no visible bruises or other signs of injury before she was left alone with Defendant.”

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