State Supreme Court Won't Hear Case Against South Gate Man Convicted of Infant's Death

By City News Service

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The California Supreme Court refused today to hear the case against a South Gate man convicted of fatally beating his 9-month-old daughter and sexually assaulting his wife.

The state's highest court denied a defense petition seeking review of the case against Jose Tulio Deras, who is serving a 50-year-to-life term in state prison.
Deras was convicted in March 2012 in Norwalk Superior Court of second- degree murder and assault on a child causing death for the Jan. 15, 2011, killing of his daughter, Valerie, along with sodomy by use of force on his wife.

In a May 28 ruling, a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal cited the "crushing weight of the evidence'' against Deras. The appellate court panel rejected the defense's contention that Deras was deprived of a fair trial through the admission of a recording of his interrogation in Spanish with an English translation.

Deras -- who fled to Mexico and was turned over to U.S. authorities four days later -- told police in Spanish that the girl kept crying after he hit her several times on the chest and that he hit the back of her head several times with his hand and a tennis shoe, then tried to revive her after she stopped breathing, according to the May 28 appellate court ruling.

After being sexually assaulted, Deras' wife convinced him to bring the baby's body in from a car where he had hidden it and to allow her to try to revive the girl, according to the ruling.

The wife then fled with the couple's 2-year-old son to a nearby auto shop, where she stayed until police arrived. Deras' wife, who was involved in divorce proceedings when he was sentenced last year, told the judge then that ``justice has been done on behalf of my daughter.''

But she said she still doesn't feel satisfied as a mother because her child will never be returned no matter how much time Deras does behind bars. "Because nothing, not him even spending so much time in jail is going to return my daughter to me,'' she said at the sentencing hearing, adding that she hoped Deras will "remember everything he took away from me.''