MIAMI — Jurors began deliberating Friday in the aggravated child abuse trial of Leonor Garcia, the Miami-Dade babysitter accused of giving a 7-year-old a brain bleed.
It came after jurors heard four days’ worth of testimony and arguments from both the state and defense.
Garcia, 65, is accused of hurting the young girl in July 2023. The child was hospitalized with a brain bleed that had to be surgically drained.
It’s alleged that Garcia, then 62, used a metal serving spoon to beat the child over the head and shoulder when she got answers wrong during English lessons.
Officers from what was then the Miami-Dade Police Department said that Garcia claimed at the time that the injuries were from the girl doing “cartwheels.”
The girl testified on Wednesday and Garcia testified in her own defense on Thursday.
Jurors heard instructions from the judge on Friday before hearing closing arguments.
Assistant State Attorney Janeen Zamora called the case one of “broken trust.”
“(The girl’s mother) trusted Ms. Garcia with her child. Ms. Garcia took advantage of that trust and we are here today because she committed not only just child abuse, but continued child abuse that escalated into aggravated child abuse,” Zamora said.
The defense said the victim, now 10, already had a head injury from when she lived in Cuba.
“The state is correct when the state says that this is a case of broken trust. The trust that has been broken, however, is not the trust that (the girl’s mother) had (with) my client,” defense attorney Sabrina Filomena said. “The trust that has been broken here is the trust that the state of Florida, that you should take in the state of Florida, when they bring a case to you, they have an obligation to bring the truth to you -- no lies.”
The girl’s mother walked out during Filomena’s closing argument, saying she couldn’t hear another word.
Aggravated child abuse is a first-degree felony that could potentially result in a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
