PROSECUTORS DON'T CHARGE WOMAN WHO LEFT BABY ON BEACH

Saturday, September 3 2003
Source: The Associated Press

BAL HARBOUR, Fla. (AP) - A Mexican woman jailed after leaving her newborn on a Florida beach headed home Saturday after prosecutors decided that confusion brought on by a medical condition was what led her to abandon the child.

Teresa Jimenez Garcia, 21, took a flight to Mexico to reunite with her baby, Isaac, who has been living with his father. Police arrested Jimenez on July 31, after a tourist found her newborn covered in blood and sand and with his umbilical cord still attached. Officers soon spotted Jimenez washing her bloody clothes in the ocean.

A doctor who treated Jimenez after the birth diagnosed her with a severe form of preeclampsia and said symptoms could include an altered state of mind and confusion, according to documents prosecutors filed Friday.

"There was never any intent to abandon this child," Kubiliun said, who added that Jimenez plans to marry the baby's father.

"Justice was served here," Kubiliun said.