Mom Avoided Life in Baby’s Death

TYLER — The mother charged with the 2010 death of her 1-year-old, has avoided a murder charge. According to Smith County court documents, Judge Kerry L. Russell sentenced Emma Torres, 21, to two years in a state jail facility for child abandonment/endangering a child after she pleaded guilty. KETK reports, Torres was also facing a capital murder charge, but that was dropped Monday after the District Attorney�s Office filed a motion to dismiss it on August 20.

Torres and her boyfriend, Simon Lopez, 28, were indicted back in September 2011 for the death of Torres� son, Jeremy Silva. An autopsy determined Silva died from blunt force trauma. Investigators say Lopez was watching the child in November 2010, when he called one of the mother�s relatives to say the boy wasn�t breathing. Tyler police say Lopez left the youngster with the relative and fled. In July, he was caught in Queretaro, Mexico. Lopez entered a not guilty plea on January 24. The charges against him remain in place.