SAN ANTONIO – A mother charged in the death of her 5-year-old son had her plea withdrawn and sentencing halted because of her status as a U.S. resident.
Nickolle Aguilar, who was scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, is a U.S. resident though she claimed to be a citizen during her plea hearing and Pre-Sentence Investigation interview, Judge Velia J. Meza revealed on Friday.
“When I asked you if you were a citizen at the time of the plea, your answer was ‘yes,’” Meza said Friday.
At trial, Aguilar said she did not have a U.S. passport so she smuggled herself from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, Meza said.
Meza said she read letters from Aguilar’s family that stated she was born in Costa Rica and moved to the U.S. as a child.
The plea was withdrawn and will be reworked with an immigration attorney present.
Aguilar, along with her then-boyfriend Daniel Garcia, were charged in the death of Domenic Aguilar-Acevedo.
In July 2021, Domenic died in a Northeast Side hotel, but his body was left in a ravine in Colorado by Aguilar and Garcia.
Garcia last week was found guilty of injury to a child and is awaiting his sentencing date in August.
Before his trial, Aguilar had accepted a plea deal in exchange for her testimony against Garcia. Per the plea deal, Aguilar was facing a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
An immigration attorney has been appointed for Aguilar.
A hearing to decide how to move forward is set for July.