GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A woman charged with setting the 2019 fire which killed her infant nephew will take a plea deal in the case, rather than a risk a life sentence at a re-trial, according to her attorney.
Marcelia Fonseca, now 20, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and arson for the June 7, 2019, fire on Green Bay’s northeast side which killed her 11-month-old nephew. Fonseca was 15 at the time of the fire.
After a trial last October, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict — seven jurors voted for a guilty verdict, five for acquittal — so a mistrial was declared.
Another trial is scheduled for Nov. 4, but last week, prosecutors offered her a plea deal. On Tuesday, Fonseca accepted the deal, defense attorney Jessa Nicholson Goetztold FOX 11.
Fonseca will plead tonegligent homicide by use of burning materials, Nicholson Goetz said.
That count carries a maximum prison term of ten years in prison. If Fonseca had been convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, she would have faced a mandatory life prison term.
A court date to finalize the plea has not been set, although the parties are already scheduled to be in court Oct. 4 for a motions hearing.
Tuesday’s action comes a day after Fonseca’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing a fail trial couldn’t be had because police disposed of a television which could have been the source of the fire.
“The evidence shows a complete disregard of the government’s obligation to preserve evidence that the State’s investigators/experts all knew would play a significant role in determining the cause of the fire and the defense of Fonseca. By choosing not to maintain possession of the television for laboratory examination and preservation, they acted in bad faith and deprived Fonseca of the ability to examine this critical evidence. The undisputed facts require that the Court hold that the government’s failure to preserve the potentially useful evidence amounted to bad faith,” her attorneys wrote.
Last week, her attorneys said that motion would be filed as a contingency in case the plea deal was not accepted.
In Wisconsin, children ages 10-16 are charged in adult court for most homicide charges. Her attempt to have the case moved to juvenile court was rejected.
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