Justices reject appeal arguments in the 2018 death of 2-year-old Faviola Rodriguez in Las Cruces

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

SANTA FE - The New Mexico Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Doña Ana County man in the 2018 death of 2-year-old Faviola Rodriguez, a case widely known in Las Cruces as “Baby Favi.”

In a unanimous decision filed Monday, the Court affirmed the conviction of Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV for intentional child abuse resulting in death and rejected arguments that evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict.

The Court also rejected Castrillo’s request for a new trial based on what the defense described as newly discovered evidence.

According to the opinion, Faviola died while in Castrillo’s exclusive care overnight as her mother worked a shift at a convenience store. Witnesses testified the child showed no visible injuries before being left with him.

The Court said an autopsy found multiple acute head and brain injuries that occurred near the time of the child’s death, including multiple impact sites and hemorrhaging in several parts of the brain.

Dr. Lindsay Smith of the Office of the Medical Investigator testified that the injuries were inconsistent with a simple fall and that the child’s death resulted from “the combination of all of the blunt injuries to her head,” including both acute and older healing injuries.

Castrillo argued on appeal that the child’s death resulted from older injuries and a later accidental “minor trauma” that caused rebleeding. The Supreme Court rejected that argument, pointing to medical testimony that recent injuries were inflicted on the day the child died.

The justices also highlighted evidence that Castrillo delayed calling 911 after finding the child in distress. According to the opinion, more than an hour passed between internet searches related to a child in shock and his eventual emergency call.

The opinion states Castrillo searched online phrases including “how to get blood pu[m]ping w[hen] child in shock” and “child c[hok]es on throwu[p] during sleep” before contacting emergency responders.

The Court also rejected Castrillo’s request for a new trial tied to a social media photo posted by the child’s mother after the verdict. The justices noted the photo had been taken six months before Faviola’s death and before the earlier injuries referenced by the defense.

Castrillo was convicted by a Las Cruces jury on Sept. 1, 2023 and was later sentenced to 30 years in prison for the child's death.

“We therefore affirm Defendant’s conviction,” Justice Briana H. Zamora wrote for the unanimous Court.

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.