Mother sentenced to 10 years in son's beating death

Krista Cruz was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for her role in the 2019 beating death of her 4-year-old son by a roommate.

Cruz, 26, was 17 and still in foster care when she gave birth to her son, James Dunklee Cruz, who died in December 2019 following a severe beating.

The case raised questions about the role of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in the boy’s life and death and led to a $4.9 million wrongful death settlement against the agency.

Cruz wept in the courtroom as 2nd Judicial District Judge Stan Whitaker told her that a prison sentence was warranted even though Cruz herself had suffered severe abuse as a child.

“I think you knew in your heart of hearts that (James) was being abused and you failed to do even the simplest thing to protect him,” Whitaker told Cruz minutes before passing sentence.

Prosecutors told the judge Thursday that in James’ short life, CYFD had performed a dozen investigations into reports that James was being abused by adults in his life.

“I can’t imagine, as a mother, that you couldn’t have seen the bruising, that you couldn’t have recognized the broken bones and the flimsy excuses that were provided to excuse those away,” Whitaker said.

Cruz pleaded guilty in September to child abuse resulting in death, two additional felony counts of child abuse and a misdemeanor charge of failure to report child abuse.

Cruz’s two co-defendants are serving prison sentences in the boy’s death.

Zarrick Marquez, 31, was sentenced in 2022 to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to intentional child abuse in James’ death.

Pamela Esparza, 25, was sentenced in November to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to reckless child abuse and two other felonies in the boy’s death.

Assistant District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch said Thursday that James himself had told investigators in September 2019 — four months before his death — that Marquez and Esparza were physically and sexually abusing him after the boy was treated for severe injuries.

“There’s no way that Krista Cruz did not know, at least in those four months, that James was being physically abused,” Brandenburg-Koch said. “She still did nothing to protect him.”

A lawsuit filed against CYFD in 2021 alleged that James was treated at Duke City Urgent Care on Oct. 18, 2019, for a shoulder injury and bruising to his genitals. Those injuries were the 13th referral of abuse or neglect during James’ lifetime and the fifth referral in just over a month, according to the suit.

Cruz’s attorney, Edward Bustamante, told the judge that Cruz had spent years in foster care and had suffered severe physical sexual abuse as a child.

“You can’t dismiss, judge, how she was raised,” Bustamante said. “If abuse and neglect are all that you know, then that is your normal.”

Cruz had been a ward of the state since age 10 after experiencing physical abuse and neglect, excessive discipline and educational neglect in her home.

Cruz spent ages 11 through 18 in the custody of CYFD. Her mother’s parental rights were terminated in 2009 after CYFD received at least 22 referrals of abuse and neglect and urged that Cruz be removed from the home.

Bustamante also noted that Cruz was not present at the time her son was fatally beaten. He asked Whitaker to spare Cruz time in prison.

Bethany Edwards, a clinical psychologist, testified that Cruz suffered from severe mental illness as a result of childhood trauma. Cruz had also been taught by her mother to distrust CYFD, she said.

Whitaker responded that Cruz’s childhood and mental illness don’t excuse her failure to protect her son.

“It is certainly not that I don’t understand the significance of childhood trauma,” Whitaker said. “But that’s not an excuse for what we see here. It can’t be used as a justification for not protecting this child.”