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Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed granted a continuance Wednesday in the plea hearing for Beatriz Cuautle and set the case for trial.
Cuautle, 29, of Warsaw, is being held in the Kosciusko County Jail on a charge of murder in connection with the Oct. 21 death of her infant daughter shortly after Cuautle gave birth at her workplace.
One of Cuautle's court-appointed attorneys, David Kolbe of Warsaw, announced last week that Cuautle would plead guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, a Class B felony. However, when Cuautle did not appear in court with her attorneys, Kolbe and Rosie Meza DeNuttle of Elkhart, Reed said the plea would not be considered.
Kolbe said the delay is necessary because the 46 questions in the litany of the plea were translated to Cuautle's native language of Spanish, but he is not sure if Cuautle is able to understand all of the issues associated with entering a guilty plea.
"I don't believe they (the questions) are fine-tuned for her education level," Kolbe said, adding it is estimated that Cuautle has the equivalent of a first-grade education in Mexico.
Although Reed's first intention was to deny the request for a continuance of the plea hearing, he agreed to continue the matter until June 9 - the pretrial hearing date - because of immigration issues.
Kolbe said that Criminal Rule 4 time - the amount of time allowed for defendants to be brought to trial under the speedy trial rule - must be attributed for Cuautle to remain in custody beyond six months of her arrest date. Without Cuautle in custody, Kolbe said, "we don't know where she'll go."
Cuautle is being held in lieu of bond.
Cuautle allegedly gave birth Oct. 21 to the baby girl in a toilet of a bathroom at Kralis Brothers Foods Inc., Mentone, and then placed the infant in a trash can.
An autopsy of Cuautle's newborn daughter revealed the infant died from asphyxiation due to suffocation. Kosciusko County Coroner Larry Ladd ruled the death a homicide.
The infant's body was reportedly found in the the trash after Cuautle had been in the room for about two hours. Co-workers reported Cuautle complained of being ill the morning of the incident.
The manslaughter charge carries a possible prison term of six to 20 years.
