A La Habra woman who dropped her infant son to his death from a Children’s Hospital of Orange County parking structure more than a decade ago was sentenced Wednesday to 25-years-to-life in prison, ending a long-running criminal case that a judge described as a tragedy for all involved.

Sonia Hermosillo, 42, in statement to Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger, said she was sorry for the death of 7-month-old Noe Medina Jr. and tearfully asked for a chance to be back with her family.

“I truly regret what I did,” Hermosillo said to the judge through a Spanish-language interpreter. “And I’m asking for an opportunity to be with my daughters. Please, your honor, I know that what I did was wrong, but I regret doing that from the bottom of my heart.”

Family members, including Hermosillo’s husband and two daughters, have supported her throughout the lengthy court process. During the sentencing hearing, one of the daughters told the judge that her mother “was not an evil person,” but that after the baby boy was born her “world turned upside down for her and she needed help.”

With a Santa Ana jury last year convicting Hermosillo of murder and then finding her legally sane at the time of the killing, Judge Menninger told the family that her only options for sentencing were either probation or 25-years-to-life behind bars. And the judge added that a sentence of probation for killing a baby was not a good option.

“There is no winner here,” Menninger told Hermosillo’s husband and daughters. “This just became a tragedy and I’m so sorry for what you went through.”

Those who knew Hermosillo described an abrupt change after the birth of Noe Jr., as she went from a devoted, outgoing mother to a nearly catatonic woman who believed herself to be a danger to her own children. Her family attempted to get Hermosillo help, but had limited financial resources to maintain consistent care.

The boy was receiving thrice-weekly physical therapy sessions at the Children’s Hospital to fix a neck that had been twisted to one side and flat-head syndrome, and was improving. But Hermosillo became convinced that her son was going to grow to be a “big baby in diapers his whole life,” according to testimony, despite the infant not having been diagnosed with anything but the physical-development issues.

On Aug 22, 2011, Hermosillo waited until her husband was taking a shower in order to take the boy from their home and drive to the hospital parking structure in Orange. She took off the helmet he wore to treat his flat-head syndrome and dropped the boy from the building. In an interview hours later with police, Hermosillo described having “hate, resentment and anger” towards the infant “because he’s sick.”

The jury trial was delayed numerous times over a decade as Hermosillo received mental-health treatment and doctors worked to determine whether she was mentally fit to stand trial.

Hermosillo’s attorney, Jacqueline Goodman, argued that Hermosillo was not guilty by reason of insanity, which would have required jurors to determine Hermosillo didn’t understand the nature of her actions at the time of the infant’s death.

During the trial, defense experts contended that Hermosillo had suffered from postpartum psychosis, including delusions and hallucinations that amounted to a complete break from reality. Prosecution experts disputed that diagnosis, and Deputy District Attorney Mena Guirguis argued that while Hermosillo was severely depressed, she did not meet the legal threshold for insanity.

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