Despite “blurting” a confession in the back of a squad car, a Baltimore County woman is expected to plead not guilty to killing a 3-year-old boy in a baby carriage in a trial of the fatal hit-and-run that begins today.
Lazara Arellano de Hogue, 40, admitted to slamming her pick-up truck into 55-year-old Marjorie Thomas and a baby stroller holding her grandson, Elijah Cozart, along Goucher Boulevard on Dec. 1.
De Hogue told police she did not realize Elijah and the carriage were trapped beneath her car for nearly one mile as she sped to her Towson-area apartment.
When officers questioned her, de Hogue, a Mexican immigrant, repeatedly said “it was not her fault and she had the green light,” according to court records.
“I was in a rush to get home and let my kids get inside the apartment,” de Hogue cried to an officer transporting her to the Towson precinct. “You officers left my apartment unlocked and if anything happens, I?m holding you responsible.”
Such statements should be thrown out because her rights to silence and an attorney were not read before she made them in her apartment and the squad car, then translated inaccurately when she agreed to waive them prior to formal interrogation, defense attorney Michael Zwaig argued during a motions hearing earlier this month.
Attorneys expect Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge John Hennegan to rule on the request today, but prosecutor Alan Webster cautioned that the rest of the proceedings could be postponed.
In his written response to Zwaig?s argument, Webster said voluntary statements, or “blurts,” are not the product of interrogation and therefore aren?t subject to Miranda protocol.
His response did not address translation issues.
“It?s the totality of circumstance,” Webster said. “You can put a different interpretation on any of those rights.”
De Hogue is a mother of two and a devout parishioner of St. Michael?s Church in Fells Point, according to a letter from the Rev. Charles McDonald in court records.
McDonald visited de Hogue soon after the incident, prayed with her, and asked the court to allow her to continue attending services.
“She is in a difficult situation, on many levels, and she is looking to her faith in God and to her parish community for strength, understanding and peace in her heart,” McDonald wrote.
