A Central Texas woman convicted of starving her seven-week-old child in 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison has been given a new trial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Wednesday that instructions to Bell County jurors who decided the felony murder case of Nilda Iliana Rodriguez, of Harker Heights, were vague and didn't allow the panel to properly consider punishment on a lesser charge of injury to a child.
The appeals court earlier ordered a new punishment hearing. Rodriguez's lawyers asked the court to look at the case again and grant a new trial.
Rodriguez told jurors in 2010 that her son, Deon Griffin, was fine and she wasn't a murderer. An autopsy showed the infant had no fat under his skin and significant signs of dehydration.
