Flaming objects miss jet in air over New Zealand; experts say they were likely meteors

By: Associated Press | Wednesday, March 28, 2007 7:04 PM PDT ∞

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Pilots of a Chilean commercial jetliner spotted flaming objects falling past their plane as it headed for a landing in New Zealand, airline officials said Wednesday.

U.S. experts suggested the objects were likely meteors burning up in the earth's atmosphere and questioned Australian media reports they were probably pieces of a falling Russian spacecraft.

LAN Chile airline said in a brief statement that the pilot, who was not identified, "made visual contact with incandescent fragments" several miles away on Monday. The Airbus 340 had just entered New Zealand airspace when the space debris was spotted.

The airline said it reported the incident to authorities in Chile and New Zealand.

Web sites of several Australian news media quoted officials as saying that pieces of a Russian satellite had narrowly missed the jet.

But Nicholas Johnson, orbital debris chief scientist for NASA's Johnson Space Center, said that was likely not the case. Russian space junk was expected to come back to Earth -- but not until about 12 hours after the incident with the jet, Johnson said.

He said he checked with the Russians and the debris -- an empty Progress resupply ship that had been at the International Space Station -- re-entered Earth's atmosphere on schedule.

"Unless someone has their times wrong, there appears to be no correlation," Johnson told The Associated Press.

About 50 meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere every day -- mostly burning up as they speed toward the planet -- said Bill Ailor, director of the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at the Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, Calif.

Those that survive and hit the ground are called meteorites.

By contrast, about 150 pieces of man-made space junk fall back to Earth each year, with about two-thirds of it coming as unplanned entries, Ailor said.

Larger pieces of man-made space equipment, such as the Progress resupply ship, have motors to guide them back to Earth, Ailor said. If they are calculated to have more than a 1 in 10,000 chance of hitting people, they are shifted to a safer path, he said, though small errors can lead to large variations in where the debris hits.

No one has ever been killed by space junk, Ailor said, although in 1997, an Oklahoma woman was grazed in the shoulder by piece.

Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this story from Washington.

Star Wars stamp set announced by post office

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi will do battle one more time -- and the emperor, Han Solo, Princess Leia and others will join in the struggle.

A set of 15 stamps commemorating the Star Wars movies will be released in May, the Postal Service said Wednesday.

And people will get to vote on their favorite from the set, which will be reissued in late summer or early fall as a single stamp, said David Failor, director of stamp services at the post office.

"We're hoping that it really grabs a lot of attention. There are certainly a lot of Star Wars fans out there," Failor said in a telephone interview.

The 41-cent stamps will be released May 25. The price of sending a letter goes up to that rate on May 14.

Failor said issuing a Star Wars stamp had been considered previously in the "Celebrate the Century" stamp series, and the advisory committee that selects stamp subjects recently decided to revive the idea for the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars film.

The 15 stamps will be issued on a single sheet that resembles a movie poster. Once the stamps are available, people who want to vote for their favorite will be able to do it online at http://www.uspsjedimaster.com.

Individual stamps feature:

-- Darth Vader.

-- Yoda.

-- Obi-Wan Kenobi.

-- Han Solo and Chewbacca.

-- Anakin Skywalker fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi.

-- Queen Padme Amidala.

-- Luke Skywalker.

-- Princess Leia Organa with R2-D2.

-- Emperor Palpatine.

-- Darth Maul.

-- Imperial Stormtroopers.

-- Boba Fett.

-- The Millennium Falcon.

-- An X-wing fighter.

-- C-3PO.

On the Net:

U.S. Postal Service: http://www.usps.com

Children play with dolls, eat ice cream cones during hostage crisis in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A young girl waved a Barbie doll in the air while a boy licked an ice cream cone. Another girl casually finished a bottle of water while chatting with a classmate.

Dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus Wednesday by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns, but the youngsters took the ordeal in stride, eating pizza, smiling and waving from the windows throughout the day.

The crisis ended after 10 hours when 56-year-old civil engineer Jun Ducat, who staged the incident to denounce corruption and demand better lives for impoverished children, released the children, put the pin back in a grenade and surrendered to police.

Jubilant parents were quickly reunited with their children as they filed off the bus clutching dolls, toys and backpacks. Ducat was led to a waiting police car and driven away.

"I was afraid all day that the grenade may explode," said Gerome Agabon, father of 5-year-old hostage Joanne.

Manila police district chief Danilo Abarzosa said Ducat would be charged with 32 counts of illegal detention and abduction -- each count is punishable by up to 12 years in prison -- along with illegal possession of explosives and firearms.

"I accept that I should be jailed because what I did was against the law," Ducat said in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the standoff ended.

The excited students thought they were going on a field trip when they boarded the bus early Wednesday. Instead, Ducat had the driver take them to City Hall, where a handwritten sheet of paper was taped to the windshield that said he was holding 32 children and two teachers and was armed with two grenades, an assault rifle and a .45-caliber pistol.

Bus driver Deogracias Bugarin said they had loaded up with bottled water and eaten breakfast at a fast-food restaurant. Ducat said he brought along three chamber pots for use as toilets.

Housewife Shiela Malabo was relieved when her 6-year-old son Fred appeared at a bus window and waved to her. She waved back frantically and gestured with her hands to ask if he had eaten.

Fred responded by raising an empty box from a popular hamburger chain.

"When I was walking him into the bus, I told him to behave and not be unruly," Malabo said as she sat waiting with other worried parents. "This excursion was postponed twice and he was really very excited to go."

Jasmine Agabon said her 5-year-old daughter Joanne thought they were going swimming, so she had worn her bathing suit underneath her school uniform that morning.

"I cried in our house when I found out about the hostage-taking," Agabon said. "I don't know how to feel. Mr. Ducat was good. He helped people in our slum get jobs. He helped our children get good education.

Ducat, who has staged attention-grabbing stunts in the past, made a long statement through a wireless microphone while the youngsters chanted his name. He railed against the failure of politicians in the Philippines to make good on promises to provide free education and housing for the poor, and called corruption in the country the worst in Asia.

"I love these kids; that's why I am here," Ducat told DZMM radio by mobile phone shortly after the incident began. "You can be assured that I cannot hurt the children."

White candles had been lit at Ducat's request and placed in yellow cups under the police tape used to cordon off the area. Police and other officials also held candles outside the bus, as did people in the crowd that went to watch the situation unfold.

"Let the candles be a warning," Ducat said. "If the promises remain unfulfilled, you will see those candles again."

Parents at the scene, although afraid for their children, expressed sympathy for Ducat's demands and had kind words for his work in their slum, particularly the free day-care center he founded where he pays the teachers' salaries.

As he was led away, dozens of slum-dwellers yelled his name like a hero.

Ducat was involved in a previous hostage-taking in 1989 involving two priests, but no charges were filed, police said.

He was disqualified as a congressional candidate in 2001 for unspecified reasons. He once protested high rice prices by personally pulling a wagon loaded with sacks of rice about 60 miles to Manila. In 1998, he climbed a tower to protest against the candidacy of a politician who he said was not a real Filipino citizen.

"I know him as a very, very passionate individual who has his own kind of thinking on the solutions to our problems," Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said. "But we cannot agree with his ways."

Associated Press writers Teresa Cerojano, Hrvoje Hranjski, Oliver Teves and Paul Alexander contributed to this report.

Rooftop fire on downtown Chicago high-rise extinguished; no serious injuries reported

CHICAGO (AP) -- Fire broke out on the roof of a 45-story office building Wednesday, sending some workers fleeing into the downtown streets.

Firefighters contained the flames on the roof and said the blaze posed no danger to occupants. It was extinguished in two hours and damaged only the building's exterior.

Authorities did not call for an evacuation, but were assisting people who wanted to come out.

District Fire Chief Gregory Lewis would not discuss a possible cause, saying it was under investigation.

Two people who descended the stairs were hospitalized for exhaustion, Lewis said. Emergency workers were checking other people as a precaution.

Rhonda Johnson said she was on the 44th floor when co-workers noticed smoke outside the building. They didn't know where the smoke was coming from, she said. "There was no noise."

Johnson said she took an elevator to the ground floor, where she saw firefighters rushing inside.

The building, just west of the Chicago River, has several commercial tenants, an Italian restaurant, a parking garage and a child care center. Several children were led out of the building shortly after the smoke was reported.

Muslim woman sues Detroit judge for asking her to remove veil in court

DETROIT (AP) -- A Muslim woman whose small-claims court case was dismissed after she refused to remove her veil sued the judge Wednesday, saying her religious and civil rights were violated.

Ginnnah Muhammad, 42, of Detroit, says in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit that Judge Paul Paruk's request to remove her veil -- and his decision to dismiss her case when she didn't -- was unconstitutional based on her First Amendment right to practice her religion.

The claim against Paruk also cites a federal civil rights law in alleging that Muhammad was denied access to the courts because of her religion.

Muhammad wore a niqab -- a scarf and veil that covers her head and face, leaving only the eyes visible -- during the October hearing in Hamtramck, a city surrounded by Detroit.

She was contesting a $2,750 charge from a rental-car company to repair a vehicle that she said thieves had broken into.

Paruk told her he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness and gave her a choice: take off the veil while testifying or have the case dismissed. She kept it on.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. then filed a claim seeking a judgment of $2,000 against Muhammad. A hearing is set for April 18 before Paruk in Hamtramck's district court.

Muhammad's attorney, Nabih Ayad, said that she unsuccessfully sought to get a different judge to hear the case and that she and her client plan to ask him to remove himself from the case.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for Paruk.

Metropolitan Detroit has one of the country's largest Muslim and Arab populations. The lawsuit says that because of that, others have either come before Paruk or will come before him. "Thus, future harm is imminent."

"You should be able to be who you are as long as you're not a criminal or hurting other people," said Muhammad, who converted to Islam when she was 10 and runs an aromatherapy business in suburban Detroit. "I want to make sure everyone across the board is able to practice their religion freely in a democratic society."

Muhammad said she would have removed her veil before a female judge.

"The way I believe in Islam is that a woman is very virtuous," she said. "We should be covered when we come out. This protects me as well as other people. I believe that God wants me that way."

Michigan law has no rules on how judges should handle religious attire of people in court.

NYC man pleads guilty to child endangerment in wife's suicide plunge; 2 kids survived

NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) -- A man accused of helping his wife commit suicide by allowing her to drive the family minivan off a 300-foot cliff with their children inside pleaded guilty Wednesday to child endangerment in a deal that will likely spare him prison.

Victor Han, 35, admitted in Rockland County Court that he knew his wife was putting herself and their children in danger when he stepped out of the vehicle last June at a scenic overlook at Bear Mountain.

His 35-year-old wife, Hejin Han, drove the minivan off the cliff, killing herself. The children, 5-year-old Ariana and 3-year-old Itana, were belted into car seats and survived without major injury.

State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly said prosecutors were recommending three years probation. The maximum sentence for an endangerment charge is 28 months to seven years in prison. Sentencing was set for June 6.

Han, who remains free on $40,000 bail, walked out of court without commenting.

"He did this to get the case over, and not to force the family to go through the trauma (of a trial)," defense attorney Lawrence Goldman said of his client's guilty plea.

District Attorney Michael Bongiorno dropped a count of promoting suicide, acknowledging it would have been difficult to prove to a jury.

"You have a very unusual fact pattern and an unusual charge," he said.

Han, an architect living in New York City, is seeking full custody of the children and is currently seeing them at supervised visits, prosecutor Louis Valvo said.

In a statement to police, Han acknowledged that he had worried his wife was suicidal but said he got out of the minivan only to take pictures.

He said that when the vehicle went over the edge, passing between two boulders placed to keep cars from skidding off the road, he called 911, ran down the cliff and rescued his daughters but could not revive his wife.

New City is 33 miles north of New York City.

Man dies after bees attack him and his son in northern Mexico

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- A man died after a swarm of bees attacked him and his son while they were working in an orchard in northern Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.

Jesus Flores, 48, and his 18-year-old son, Jose Flores, were working in an orange orchard Tuesday in Montemorelos, a town about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Monterrey, when they accidentally disturbed a bee hive on a tree, Jesus Flores' son, Jose, told the Televisa television network.

"They came after us and we ran about a kilometer but my father couldn't run anymore," said Jose Flores, who was stung about 40 times.

Miguel Gonzalez, a Red Cross paramedic, told Televisa that Jesus Flores died instantly after being stung about 15 times on the face and abdomen. Gonzalez said Jesus Flores was likely allergic to bee venom.

In small Southern county, two white women teachers accused of sex with black boys

CLINTON, S.C. (AP) -- The arrest of two women teachers on charges of having sex with their male students has brought cries of lingering racism in one of South Carolina's most conservative counties and evoked some of the South's oldest and deepest-seated racial taboos.

Both women are white. The boys -- six in all -- are black.

Some of the blacks who make up more than a quarter of Laurens County's 70,000 residents are upset over the handling of the two cases, particularly the release of the teachers on bail.

They say the cases reflect the way crimes by whites against blacks in the segregated South were treated less seriously than other offenses, and blacks who leveled accusations against whites were less likely to be believed.

"If this had been black teachers, they would not be out of jail right now," said Corinnie Young, a 49-year-old bookstore employee who is black.

Some blacks shudder to think what would have happened if the teachers were black men and the students were white girls.

"I can assure you if it were an African American male who committed such an offense against a white female, history shows us that the charges, the punishment and the sentencing would be totally different," said state NAACP president Lonnie Randolph. "The system ain't blind when the perpetrator is an African American male or female or when the victim is a white female."

Jerry Peace, the county prosecutor and a white man, said that the teachers are wearing electronic tracking devices and that their release on bail -- $125,000 for one, $110,000 for the other -- was based not on race, but on the danger to the community and the likelihood that the defendants might flee.

In any case, it would be unusual for someone accused of such a crime to be held without bail. Deborah Ahrens, a visiting professor of criminal law at the University of South Carolina, said of the bail amounts for the two teachers: "For the clients that I've represented in the past that were up for similar offenses, that sounds about right."

Signs of racial tension, old and new, are not hard to find in Laurens County. The school where one of the teachers worked used to be blacks-only. In the town of Laurens, where one of the teachers taught, an old movie theater has been converted into a Ku Klux Klan museum and paraphernalia store called The Red Neck Shop. There, visitors can buy Confederate flags and bumper stickers, such as one that depicts three Klansmen and reads "The Original Boys in the Hood."

Textile mills were once the chief source of jobs in the working-class area about 60 miles northwest of the state capital of Columbia, but the industry went into decline in the 1990s. The main employers now include a maker of plastic coolers and Presbyterian College in Clinton. As of 2003, nearly 15 percent of county residents lived below the poverty line.

And as in many communities, most neighborhoods in the county are either black or white. People of different races find themselves side by side in one of two places: work or school.

Wendie Schweikert, a 37-year-old married woman who had been teaching elementary school in Laurens for more than a decade, was arrested last year after the mother of an 11-year-old boy accused her of having sex with the boy at school at least twice. Authorities said they found evidence bearing his DNA in her classroom. She is also accused of having sex with him in her car near a miniature golf course and arcade in Greenville, about 40 miles away.

Allenna Ward, a 24-year-old minister's daughter in her second year of teaching, was fired Feb. 28 after she was charged with having sex with at least five boys. Some of the alleged victims, 14 and 15 years old, were students at the middle school in Clinton where Ward taught. Police say Ward, who is married, had sex with the boys at the school, at a motel, in a park and behind a restaurant.

Attempts to contact the women in person and by telephone were unsuccessful, and their lawyers did not return repeated calls.

Black and white residents alike said they are shocked by the accusations. Many echoed the sentiments of Peggy Hawkins, a 50-year-old white resident. "Boys are boys and she done wrong," Hawkins said of one of the teachers.

The Rev. David Kennedy, a local black activist, is among those who see racism at work. He said the white teachers accused of preying on black students figured "they can do what they want to do with them and they know the consequences won't be great."

He suggested that blacks in town are too afraid to speak out: "There's a long history of intimidation and it's a sin. It's unholy in Laurens County to speak out."

Parents whose children go to E.B Morse Elementary School, where Schweikert taught, say they have trouble reconciling the accusations with the woman they knew.

"She was very involved," said Shea Mills, whose son attended the school. "I remember she would make kids pick paper up in the halls."

Bell Street Middle School Principal Maureen Tiller said Ward did well during an evaluation of her skills, and "personality-wise she seemed to be fine."

Nicole Sullivan, whose daughter went to Schweikert's school, said that when the case broke, students brought home notes saying the teacher had resigned. The notes did not explain why.

"I don't want to say it was a racial thing, but if it were a white victim and a black teacher, I think things would have been handled differently," said Sullivan, who is black.

Zoo Atlanta lets panda cub outside, but she's in no rush to enjoy new freedom

ATLANTA (AP) -- Zoo Atlanta's giant panda cub got a taste of the great outdoors Wednesday, but Mei Lan appeared to be in no mood for exploring.

The 6-month-old, 27-pound cub peeked into the outside section of the panda exhibit, then retreated indoors. Wednesday was the first day zoo officials began letting her outside.

"For her to live a life like a wild panda would, we want her to spend as much time as she can outside," said Rebecca Snyder, curator of giant panda research and management at the zoo. "We made all the preparations. She just has to do it on her own time."

Mei Lan's caution didn't stop zoo visitors from oohing and ahhing at her from behind the glass of the indoor exhibit.

Cara Shaffer brought her two children and her mother from Hanover, Ind., just to see the cub.

"She is way cuter in person than she is on panda cam," Shaffer said, watching Mei Lan play with her mother, Lun Lun, in the panda hammock. "The only thing cuter was my two kids when they were born."

Mei Lan, the only giant panda cub born at a U.S. zoo in 2006, began her public appearances in January. Officials say her name is Chinese for "Atlanta Beauty."

On the Net:

Zoo Atlanta: http://www.zooatlanta.org/

Immigrant family's effort to live the American dream end in tragedy outside Washington

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- The search for the missing mother of four dead children could expand to other countries, authorities said, as a portrait emerged Wednesday of an immigrant family struggling to live the American dream.

Pedro Rodriguez and Deysi Benitez had faced language hurdles when they arrived in the far suburbs of Washington seven years ago. They worked menial jobs to pay a townhouse mortgage, took in a boarder and had a few run-ins with the law, including a shoplifting arrest over children's clothing.

The family's dreams ended this week with the four young children dead in their beds of unknown causes and the father hanging from his townhouse bannister.

Police were awaiting toxicology results to explain the deaths of Rodriguez, 28, daughters Elsa, 9, Vanessa, 4, and Carena, 1, and 3-year-old son Angel. Poisoning and suffocation were possible causes of the children's deaths, Lt. Thomas Chase said. Blankets had been pulled up over their heads.

Wednesday morning, authorities still had no leads to finding Benitez, the children's 25-year-old mother, and Chase said the search could become international.

"We are doing everything we can to try to locate her and, of course, first and foremost, to verify that she's OK," he said.

El Salvador's consul general, Ana Margarita Chavez, taped a televised appeal to be aired Wednesday in the Washington area by a local Univision affiliate. She said she urges Benitez to contact her, saying "I will provide her with security and I that I understand her situation and I was going to be waiting for her phone call."

But Chavez acknowledged that the appeal may be in vain.

"There are so many scenarios. One is that maybe she already left the country," Chavez said. "There is another one that maybe she is dead."

Before the bodies were found Monday, neighbors and co-workers said they hadn't seen Benitez for at least 10 days, and that neither the children nor Rodriguez had been seen for several days. One relative told Chavez she hadn't been able to reach Benitez for almost two weeks.

The couple had emigrated from El Salvador, arriving in Frederick about seven years ago, said Javier Montenegro, an acquaintance.

Benitez was in the U.S. under temporary protective status, similar to asylum, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore. The status of the other family members was being investigated.

When they first arrived, the couple and their oldest daughter lived in a rental unit with another Hispanic immigrant, Montenegro said.

He said they went through a number of apartments and jobs before buying their townhouse about two years ago. Real estate records list the purchase price at $195,900.

Benitez worked in fast-food restaurants, then took a job at an Outback Steakhouse a few blocks from their hillside condominium, neighbors said. Rodriguez worked at a Masonite International Corp. door manufacturing plant, according to company spokesman Larry Repar.

Oscar Velasquez, who worked with Rodriguez, described him as generally happy, calm and well-behaved. He said through an interpreter that any problems were in the couple's relationship.

There were signs of financial struggles in the home.

About a year and a half ago, the couple took in a boarder, renting a room to a man for two months before the birth of their youngest child.

Masonite, based in Tampa, Fla., has been through rounds of layoffs, though it wasn't immediately clear if any had been announced in Frederick.

Frederick police records also show officers were called to the townhouse eight times between March 5, 2006, and Monday. The calls were for a variety of reasons: noise, parking issues, disorderly conduct, a verbal dispute, and most were resolved without an arrest. A theft case is still open, according to the records.

Benitez had faced a charge of theft of less than $100, resolved last May when she agreed to do 24 hours of community service. Her attorney, Dino Flores, said she had tried to shoplift children's clothing. A few years earlier, she had been ordered to pay a $500 fine and spend a day in jail in another theft case.

"It may very well have been a woman in a very difficult situation trying to provide for her family," Flores said.

Flores, whose practice serves several Hispanic residents, said some immigrants who chase the American dream aren't prepared for the expenses and end up in crushing debt.

Despite any difficulties, Frederick County Public Schools spokeswoman Marita Loose said the family's two oldest girls, who attended nearby Hillcrest Elementary School, were happy children.

Chavez, the consul general, said she had spoken with Rodriguez's parents, whom she described as "in shock."

Benitez' sister, Angela, told her she had spoken with Benitez daily until March 16, she Benitez stopped answering her cell phone. Chevez said the sister indicated the bodies would be taken to El Salvador for burial.

Outside the townhouse Wednesday, small piles of stuffed animals, flowers, candles and children's crayon drawings pilled up at the base of trees in a memorial to their young lives.

One sign read in Spanish: "I'm sorry for your babies."

Associated Press writers Alex Dominguez and Jacquelyn Martin contributed to this story.

Severed leg found on shore of Long Island Sound near home of Cablevision boss

COVE NECK, N.Y. (AP) -- A severed human leg, stuffed inside a plastic bag, was found Wednesday on the shore of Long Island Sound near the compound of billionaire James Dolan, police said.

A landscaper working on the property found the limb, which apparently had washed in from the sound, said a Nassau County police spokesman, Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone.

Homicide investigators were at the scene, and police divers were sent into the water to search for additional remains or evidence, Repalone said.

It was not immediately clear how long the leg had been in the water, the sergeant said.

Dolan is the CEO of Cablevision and the chairman of Madison Square Garden, which owns the New York Knicks and Rangers.

The small, tony village of Cove Neck is about 30 miles northeast of Manhattan.

Woman convicted in death of 2-year-old son who was returned to her 3 times despite injuries

EPHRATA, Wash. (AP) -- A woman was convicted Wednesday in the death of her 2-year-old son, who was born with drugs in his system and had been repeatedly returned to her care by child welfare officials despite numerous broken bones, burns and other injuries.

Maribel Gomez had waived her right to a jury trial. She wailed as law enforcement officials led her away after the judge found her guilty of homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter.

The little boy's death had led to a review by the state Department of Social and Health Services that concluded child welfare workers failed to follow the agency's rules and ignored obvious signs that the child was in danger.

Rafael "Raffy" Gomez died Sept. 10, 2003.

Prosecutors contended he died of blunt trauma to his head inflicted by his mother. Gomez said her son had fallen backward and hit his head during a tantrum over food.

An autopsy found that during his 25 months of life, Rafael had suffered two broken legs, as many as four skull fractures, shoulder sprains, burns and other injuries.

He had been born with cocaine and methamphetamine in his system, and was placed with foster parents in Royal City.

When he was 10 months old, he was returned to his birth parents, Gomez and Jose Arechiga. State child welfare workers placed him three more times with the same foster parents, but each time returned him to Gomez when his injuries healed.

Rafael spent 14 months in foster care and only 11 months with his mother.

Gomez, 32, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, faces up to 26 years in prison. If acquitted, she would have faced deportation. Now she will serve her sentence before facing removal from this country.