BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Scripps News Group) — On Wednesday morning, Kern County Superior Court Judge Charles Brehmer announced that Maya Hernandez and the Kern County District Attorney’s office came to a settlement agreement, ultimately dropping the first-degree murder charge in exchange for a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and two strikes on her record.
Maya Hernandez appears in court during closing arguments in her murder trial on Dec. 16, 2025. (Court TV)
Hernandez pleaded no-contest to the involuntary manslaughter allegation and two additional enhancements to the allegations of child cruelty.
20-year-old Hernandez was arrested in June of 2025 following the death of her one-year-old child, Amilio Gutierrez, after leaving him in a hot car to receive treatment at a medical spa. A toddler was also in the car. He was treated and released from the hospital.
Late last year, a jury returned a mistrial verdict on the first-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter allegations, leaving the door open for Hernandez to be retried on those counts. Kern County Chief Deputy District Attorney Eric Smith said that’s what they wanted to do, but after reviewing the situation as a whole, both parties agreed that a plea deal was more prudent.
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“We did a review of: is there anything that we could potentially do differently in a second trial? We also took — put great weight into what the jurors didn’t provide in this case, ” said Smith. “Ultimately, it was a mistrial for count one, the murder count. We took into account that 12 members of our jury heard all of the evidence, and ultimately, it was split towards not guilty, so we had to take that into account as to their result. So based on that, we decided to enter into settlement negotiations, and that’s what she pled to today,” Smith said.
We spoke with Hernandez’s older sister following the announcement of the agreement. In her mind, the District Attorney’s charge of murder seemed like an overreach, and the result was what she expected to see.
“I always thought this is what was going to happen. I think I thought 15 years and, yeah, I’ve always thought this. I didn’t really understand the first-degree [murder] charge. I thought that was a little excessive given the amount of intent. She didn’t have — she didn’t have any intent for the kids to get hurt. Obviously, she did a neglectful thing, and it led to my nephew’s death, but I don’t believe she had any intent on that happening.”
Hernandez is slated to be sentenced on March 5th at 8:30 a.m.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Group of Bakersfield.
