Stockton Record

July 29, 2010

No plea deal in farm worker death

Prosecutors' decision coincides with vigil for teen who died in heat

By Jennie Rodriguez

Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON - Prosecutors said Wednesday they will not consider a plea deal in the case against the owner and two supervisors of dismantled Merced Farm Labor, the company that employed a 17-year-old pregnant farm worker who died of heat stroke in 2008.

Deputy District Attorney Lester Fleming said he is following through with two felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, and three misdemeanors for labor violations, including failing to provide access to shade and sufficient access to drinking water.

Involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of four years, Fleming said, and a minimum of probation, fines or both.

Prosecutors and a defense attorney had been discussing a deal that would spare former owner Maria De Los Angeles Colunga and her brother Elias Armenta, the safety coordinator, from having to serve jail time. District Attorney James Willett ultimately decided against it, Fleming said.

He said the decision to prosecute came after a meeting with state representatives of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, who reported that farm labor contractors have been more compliant since the DA decided to press charges.

A hearing is scheduled today in Stockton, where Superior Court Judge Michael Garrigan is expected to rule on whether to proceed with a trial.

In addition, the District Attorney's Office is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the owner, her brother and the foreman.

Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a Lodi resident, suffered heatstroke after working about nine hours in a Farmington vineyard May 14, 2008. On that day, OSHA had issued a heat-danger warning to employers as temperatures reached 95 degrees.

Hospital staff found that Jimenez's core temperature had risen to 108 degrees. Jimenez died two days later, and the San Joaquin County coroner cited her cause of death as an accidental, work-related heatstroke.

On Wednesday, about 10 demonstrators gathered outside the Stockton courthouse to show their support for tougher punishment of farm labor contractors who violate heat-illness prevention regulations. Some held crosses to represent farm laborer deaths, and others held signs.

"We are interested in what message (the District Attorney's Office) will send," said Luis Magaña, a local activist. "A farmer's life is worth as much as any other's."

Fleming addressed media questions during the demonstration, which also became an impromptu news conference.

"I think, basically, this is something we take seriously," he said.

Fleming said contractors have a duty to their employees to provide heat-illness prevention measures. "It's got to be brutal conditions if you're working in the Central Valley (farms) in warm weather without any shade," he said.

Attorney Randy Thomas, who represents Colunga and Armenta, said this is not a case that should be prosecuted as a felony.

"It's a shame that justice has to be politicized," Thomas said. He also said, "I don't think cases should be tried in the newspaper, so that's all the comment I have."

A third defendant, Raul Martinez, the foreman supervising the crew the day Jimenez collapsed, has not been located.

"We don't know if he left the country," Fleming said.

The court proceedings today do not apply to Martinez.

United Farm Workers representatives, the union that led a pilgrimage and proposed changes in state law after Jimenez's death, is expected to be present at the hearing. Merlyn Calderon, a UFW spokeswoman, said the union will be there to support Jimenez's family.

"From what I understand, this is the first case going before San Joaquin County or California that we know of, where an employer has been charged with such counts over the death of a farm worker," Calderon said. "The family strongly feels, and the UFW supports them, that anyone that is responsible for the death of Maria Isabel should be jailed. ... We do not feel that a fine is sufficient."