For months after her miscarriage, Yesenia Sesmas carried on like before, insisting to friends and family that she still was pregnant.
On Tuesday, jurors convicted the 37-year-old Sesmas of first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated interference with parental custody, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office confirms to PEOPLE.
She faces life in prison without parole for 50 years when she is sentenced on July 13.
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Sesmas “didn’t intend to kill Laura,” her public defender, Jason Smartt, said during his closing remarks, theEaglereports.
The killing was “unplanned and spontaneous,” Smartt said during the trial. “She didn’t know that [the gun] was going to fire, and she was surprised when it did.”
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In a statement to PEOPLE, Bennett said: “After the verdict, Ms. Abarca’s family expressed relief and can now put all of their collective energy into raising Sophia.”
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“Sometimes we have good days, and sometimes we have bad days, and I always think what would she be doing?” he said of his sister. “Like right now, what would she be doing with Sophia? What would we be doing together?”
In a separate case, Sesmas still is facing charges after she was arrested four months prior to Abarca’s murder for alleged aggravated battery and kidnapping involving an 8-months-pregnant friend.
Sesmas also allegedly demanded $10,000, Portillo said, but after a physical fight, Portillo and her daughters were able to flee and police were called.
Sesmas has pleaded not guilty in that case. She was briefly jailed and free on bond at the time she murdered Abarca. She is now in Sedgwick County jail, records show.
It was not immediately clear weather Sesmas plans to appeal her recent convictions.
source: people.com
