Law&Crime Sidebar - 'Lip Filler BBL Mom' Locked Up for Baby's Hot Car Death

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

California mother of two Maya Hernandez was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week in the death of her 1-year-old son, Amilio Gutierrez on June 29, 2025. Prosecutors argued Hernandez knowingly left her two children in a sweltering vehicle while getting a cosmetic procedure, while the defense called it a tragic mistake. After a deadlocked jury and partial mistrial, Hernandez pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down what happened and how the case reached its controversial conclusion.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you or someone you know used the Doordash app between 2023 and 2025, you can visit https://www.forthepeople.com/sidebardoordash to submit a claim.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

15 years doesn't seem like enough. And my eyes are in the eyes of a father who had to visit his son in a cold grave is not enough. Maya Hernandez learned her fate and the death of her one-year-old son. After prosecutors say she left him and his brother in a scorching hot car to get a cosmetic procedure. She chose her appearance over her sons. And that choice cost Emilio his life. This is an incredibly sad case. about a 20-year-old mother of two, a car, and a terrible, awful mistake.

This is an incredibly sad case about a 20-year-old mother of two, a car, and a terrible, awful situation. A deadlocked jury left the case at a standstill until Hernandez took a plea deal. By understanding that the people in the defense have entered into an agreement, Mr. Hernandez would enter a plea of no contest. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Can we be honest about something before we go any further? When most people look at their bank statements, the amount of DoorDash orders over the

last two years is probably a little embarrassing, but I just saw a report that is going to make you put your phone down. There are serious allegations coming out that the app may have tracked your precise location and shared it with third parties without your consent, potentially capitalizing on sensitive data. It's actually a huge privacy deal. And Morgan and Morgan, they're jumping in. in to investigate. So if you've used the app between 2023 and 2025, you can easily check to see

if you qualify for a claim. And if you do, you may be entitled to compensation. You can visit for the people.com slash sidebar door dash or click the link in the description for a free case review. It takes just five minutes or less. A 20-year-old mother of two from Vysalia, California, has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars in the death of her one-year-old son. This was after she pleaded no contest to account of involuntary manslaughter with additional enhancements of child cruelty. Now, no contest, meaning you aren't necessarily admitting that you committed the crime, but you just aren't going to fight it. You aren't contesting it. You're allowing yourself to be convicted of this crime. Now, this is a case that took nearly nine months to come to an end.

And it has been at the center of debate in the court of public opinion and in the courtroom itself. And this has left a jury deadlocked on if the woman standing to be a judge, trial was in fact a murderer. What is apparent in this case is that Meyer Hernandez was spared an even worse punishment. And if you heard the clip at the start of the episode, at least one of the victims' family members was not happy with this outcome. Now, we're going to get to how the sentencing hearing played out in court this week, but we need to first talk about how we got here in the first place. According to an incident report from the Bakersfield Police Department, Officers were dispatched to the always beautiful med spa at around 4.45 p.m. on June 29, 2025, after Hernandez called 911 to report her baby wasn't breathing.

Officers noticed Hernandez's one-year-old son, Emilio Gutierrez was unconscious, not breathing, had blue discoloration around his lips. And at the time, an employee at the med spa was holding Hernandez's two-year-old son, who, according to the officer, appeared lethargic with soaking wet hair. You'll see why in a minute we'll talk about that. Both children were transported to a local hospital where, unfortunately, tragically, sadly, I don't even know what else you can describe this as. Emilio was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. According to the police report, Emilio's internal temperature had reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit, with the coroner later determining that he died of heat stroke. Now, Hernandez's two-year-old son fortunately survived this incident and was placed into protective custody.

Hernandez. She told police that she arrived at the med spot around 2 p.m. that afternoon to receive a cosmetic procedure. So it wasn't like medically necessary procedure, which is important, I think, to understand. And police initially reported it to be lip filler injections, but we're going to get into that a little bit later on. Hernandez told police that she left both of her children buckled in the back seat with the air conditioning on. But it wasn't until 4.30 p.m. so roughly two and a half hours later that she left that spa and noticed her children were in medical distress. When officers asked her why she just didn't take her children inside the med spot for the appointment, she said she didn't think that they would be harmed with her vehicle and the air conditioning on. But here's the thing. Police determined that Hernandez's car was actually off for around one and a half hours while she was inside. It was later discovered by detectives that her specific Toyota sedan model automatically shuts off if it doesn't receive any input from the driver within an hour.

Now keep in mind, the reported temperature that day was around 100,1,000. degrees Fahrenheit. And according to prosecutors, the temperature in the vehicle reached a scorching 116 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the police report, Hernandez admitted to detectives that she knew it was irresponsible to leave her kids in the car. And she thought about it when she got out of the vehicle to enter the med spa, but had really no justification as to why she left them in there. And it was at this point that Hernandez was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. But the following month, this is when Hernandez received an additional upgraded charge.

Second-degree murder. She pleaded not guilty to all of these charges. This was ahead of her trial that began in December. Now, cameras were allowed inside the courtroom for opening statements, and this is where prosecutors said that Hernandez, they made the argument that she made a choice. She made a deadly choice.

On June 29th, 2025, the defendant, the biological mother to Emilio and . The one person who is supposed to protect, supposed to put her two sons above everything else, chose herself. On that day, June 29, 2025, the defendant chose vanity. She chose her appearance over her sons. And that choice cost Emilio his life. On June 29th, 2025, in the heart of Bakersfield summer, the defendant Maya Hernandez drove from Basalia to Bakersfield.

She drove here with her two sons, Emilio and... She drove here to an elective cosmetic procedure, a procedure to enhance her looks. And ladies and gentlemen, when she drove here, she knew. that she could bring the boys, Emilio and M. into the appointment with her. She knew they were welcome. She knew they could wait inside the air conditioning. But she chose to leave them in the car.

She chose a break. She chose time to herself. She chose time to socialize with other adults. And again, that choice caused. lost Emilio his life. She did not leave that building a single time between 205 p.m. and 4.30 to check on her sons. She chose to ignore all of her responsibilities. She ignored the fact that she had children that day. She ignored the fact that they were in the car. She spoke about her children, ladies and gentlemen. She told the other patrons in the spa that she had children. What she failed, to acknowledge what she failed to ever say is that her children were in the car. She didn't tell anybody this information because she knew it was wrong. She knew her two babies should not be in the car without her in the heat. But she chose to leave them

there anyway. You will also see the text messages that the defendant exchanged with the injector with the registered nurse that provided the treatment. Text messages where she says, can I bring my kids inside? Or can I bring my kids in by chance? Sure, if you don't mind them waiting in the waiting area, hun. That message, ladies and gentlemen, came before the defendant ever left Veselia for Bakersfields. To kind of piggyback off this information,

you're also going to hear that the defendant did have an option for a babysitter that day. She knew she could have asked her sister, and her sister probably would have said yes, but she chose not to. This wasn't an accident, it wasn't a mistake. She did not forget them. She knew they were there, she left them in the car.

You will hear that she knew the dangers of doing so. She knew before she got out of her car that if she left them in the car, Emilio and . . . . . could be injured, that they could die. She knew that. You will hear that with that knowledge, with that information, she did it anyway. But meanwhile, Hernandez's defense team painted a different picture, that this was just a tragic, unfortunate mistake. This is an incredibly sad case, about a 20-year-old mother of two, a car, and a terrible, awful mistake. But it's not about murder.

The two children in this case are and Emilio. Ms. Hernandez is their mother, and she is a single parent living up in Vysalia, where she's, She works as a CNA in a care facility called Sierra Valley Rehab Center. Before she goes into the business, she left her kids in their car seats with cookies, a bottle of milk, each, and with she left her phone so that he could watch TV. Before she went into the business, Ms. Hernandez left her keys under the seat. The car was running. The air conditioning was on.

Mr. Hernandez thought that the car would stay running, that the air conditioning would likewise remain on, and that that Amelia would be okay. I want to pause for a second because law enforcement would later determine two things. One, there's no black box information in this case and what I mean by that is that the car's data recorder cannot provide any on-off times for the engine relevant to this case. Number two, law enforcement verifies with Toyota mechanics that the car shuts off after an hour if the shift lever stays in park and that timer system in that car is reset if the brake pedal is depressed or if the shift lever moves, neither of which unfortunately happened in this case. Things that the

business were running behind and Ms. Hernandez stayed in the waiting room too long and when the procedure was done, she went back out to the car and discovered that something was very wrong with Emilio. Cheeks were red, and that's something that happens with him, according to what Ms. Hernandez will later tell law enforcement. And when Ms. Hernandez took Emilio out of his car seat, Emilio started shaking. In her own words, Ms. Hernandez starts freaking out, and she initially believes that Emilio's having a seizure because I had a seizure once before and to her it looked the same.

Ms. Hernandez calls 911 twice and in between takes Emilio inside the business to the nurse. Mr. Hernandez attempts CPR on Emilio and 911 helps her with that, but tragically, it doesn't work. And neither do the attempts by medical personnel. Now unfortunately cameras weren't allowed inside the courtroom to film the witnesses, but we do have court reporters that were able to give recaps of the testimony. So here's what stood out. Prosecutors called Isabella Carillon to the stand. She was an employee of the med spa that Hernandez traveled to on that day of the incident. And according to her, Hernandez went out to her vehicle after the procedure to go get her phone to pay. And 15 minutes later, Carriona exited the building, saw Hernandez sitting in the car

holding one of her children with a second child in the back seat. And she confirmed on the stand that she told officers Hernandez didn't appear to act with any sense of urgency. Didn't appear at any point to be on the phone with 911 or performing CPR or initiating any life-saving measures. Though I will add, the jury did hear Hernandez's 911 call during this case. The prosecution also called Harmony Pacheo. This is the registered nurse who was conducting Hernandez's procedure. Now, first of all, she told the prosecution and the jury that Hernandez didn't go to the med spa for lip filler injections, but for a liquid, BBL procedure, which also includes injections to your, you know, your behind to make it bigger.

And Pacheo said the procedure lasted 15 to 20 minutes. Hernandez left the building again to go get her phone to pay. But when she returned, she had Emilio in her arms. And according to her, this little boy was purple, had foam in his mouth. And when Pacheo shouted for someone to call the ambulance, Hernandez reportedly went back outside. Eventually, she said a spa employee brought Hernandez's two-year-old son inside. the building, attempted to cool him down. Now, when it came time for the defense's case, Hernandez herself took the stand. She tried to explain her situation. She tried to explain what

happened. She told the jury about her role as a single parent, a primary provider, and then she got into the morning of the incident. And Hernandez testified that her sons ate breakfast before she took them with her to the med spa, how both kids were asleep when she went in for that procedure. And Hernandez told the jury that she had previously slept in her car, had left the AC running, never turning off before. And while inside the waiting room, Hernandez testified that she used her Apple Watch to make sure that her children were still watching YouTube. But it wasn't until she went out to her car to pay that she noticed her children were in trouble. And the 911 phone call was then played for the jury, where she reportedly told the dispatcher that she believed her son, Emilio,

was dead. Hernandez then told the dispatcher that she was performing CPR and the dispatcher proceeded to give her instructions. Hernandez testified that she spoke with dispatcher. until the ambulance arrived. And while wrapping up her testimony, Hernandez said that she believed that she was taking responsibility for what she did, her actions, when she told detectives that she was irresponsible and she didn't intend for her children to be harmed. But then we had cross-examination, right? This is the prosecution's ability to question the defendant.

And Hernandez admitted to the jury that she didn't know what her kids were doing for the two and a half hours she was inside that med spa and that they could have come, into the business using a double stroller that she had in the trunk, but she explained on the stand that she didn't want to leave her kids alone inside the business with strangers. Hernandez testified that it wasn't until what happened to her sons that she realized she made a fatal mistake. After both sides rested their case, each side gave their closing arguments. She deliberately acted with conscious disregard for human life. It sounds stupid for me to say like, oh, like, I didn't mean for that to happen, because like I did

leave them but I thought they were going to be okay it sounds stupid for me to say I thought they were going to be okay it sounds stupid for me to say that because we all know everybody knows I Maya Hernandez know that that's dangerous and I did it anyway she knew leaving them was a bad decision she knew leaving them in the car was dangerous before she got out of the car and she did it anyway with With the knowledge that her actions were dangerous, with the knowledge about her actions were dangerous to human life, with the knowledge about her actions, leaving the kids in the car could result in death, she did it anyway. This is conscious disregard for human life, ladies and gentlemen. If you're the parent that just walks in and leaves them in a hot car, you're consciously disregarding.

That was that alternate scenario, the first one. But this one is, hot car, hot car, hot car. Maya knows that it's hot and hot car, so she turns on the AC, thinking it's going to keep running. So in order to get her for conscious disregard, they would have to prove that Maya knew the car would time out and then went in anyway. The point isn't that Maya didn't know that leaving a kid in a hot car is risky. She did. That's why she left the AC on. What she didn't know is that it would turn off.

Maya thought she mitigated the risk. And this is true whether she's walking away or sitting in the lobby. For your at-the-time decision, this is true either way, because she thought the AC was on. She was wrong, tragically. Well, after two days of deliberations, look what happened with the jury. We have a note from the jury from 9.15 a.m., which reads as follows. Hopelessly deadlocked. The jurors in favor of guilty on count one are their position.

We feel that further deliberation would be pointless. Third count. We, the jury, and panel to try the above entitled case, find the defendant, Maya Hernandez, guilty of child abuse likely to produce great bodily harm or death of Emilio G. 4 count. We need the jury in panel to try the love and title of case, find the defendant, Maya Hernandez, guilty of child abuse likely to produce great bodily harm or death of I am declaring mistrial as to count one, which then necessitates a mistrial as to count two,

count two being a lesser included offense. Yeah, so Hernandez was convicted on two counts of child abuse, but there was a mistrial. The jury was deadlocked when it came to those other charges of second-degree murder and involuntary. manslaughter, meaning prosecutors would have the option to retry those charges. That didn't end up happening because on February 11th of this year, Hernandez opted for a plea deal. By understanding that the people in the defense have entered into an agreement, Mr. Hernandez would enter a plea of no contest.

And as I said earlier, Hernandez pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter with enhancements of child cruelty with a fixed prison sentence of 15 years. So you fast forward to this week where Hernandez sat before the court to officially receive her sentence from the judge. But before that happened, a victim impact statement was given from Katie Martinez. This is the grandmother of Hernandez's two children. Here's what she had to say. I've been here today to speak true that no key deal or no people document can capture. 15 years doesn't seem like enough.

In the eyes of the law, I remember, has been assigned to this tragedy. but in my eyes and in the eyes of a father who had to visit his son in a cold grave, it is not enough. At least we all have a lifetime without a meal. We'll never attend graduation of birthday parties or even have them sitting in the kitchen table, flage it can be the simple meal. The tragedy just didn't bring our family. It shipped the hearts of Puertoville.

Nations and prayed and our city went over our video. It was so far. to get that phone call that day. And seeing, Amelio, without his brother, he's broken my heart and he did he say, no. I ask me to hear the way that his brother and our family to know that no sentence will ever keep his name out of our town and we will strive that no other childbeck has to go to this. So it seems that Martinez was the only family member to speak during that hearing, so the judge

that moved on to the official sentencing. As we know, we did have a jury trial. There was a partial verdict in this case. So we have a verdict and then there was resolution reached between our people of state in California and Mr. Nendez through her attorney with her attorney. Earlier and that's how we reached the point that we're at here today.

Credits are 250 actual 37 good at work for a total of 287. That's on 15% basis. calculation. In regard to count three, the penal code section 273A subsection A probation is denied. You are sentenced to the Department of Corrections for the upper term of six years. That is enhanced by six years pursuant to section 1202.7

of the penal code and that sentence is further enhanced by four years pursuant to section 1202.95 of the penal code code. Punishment for that enhancement is stayed pursuant to Rule 4.447 of the California Rules of Court until the successful completion of the sentence I have imposed and permanently thereafter. Now, when you add up all those figures, it equates to 16 years in prison, but because of the fixed agreement in the plea deal, the sentence for Hernandez remains at 15 years. And that also includes restitution in Emilio's death, cost to her surviving son. And this is an amount that's going to be determined by a probate court later on. But I just want to leave with one more aspect

to this. The judge left the court with these final words before remanding Hernandez into custody. So we turn the page now on this chapter. And the question is, where does everybody go from here? And I hope there's some peace for everyone because that's the only way to move forward. Maya will be going to prison. Maya already has a life sentence because of the loss of Emilio. hope as everyone leaves here today, that what isn't forgotten is, and it won't be, Amelia won't be forgotten, but this can't happen again. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also follow us on NBC's Peacock. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.