Murder of Lazaro Figueroa
The case was widely covered in US media, who called the initially unidentified boy "Baby Lollipops", after the design on the T-shirt he was wearing when found.
Because Lazaro's remains were unidentified for weeks after his discovery, local news outlets nicknamed him "Baby Lollipops" in reference to the shirt he was found wearing.
[4] Trial evidence showed that shortly after leaving Lazaro's body in the bushes, Cardona and her lover, Olivia Gonzalez, fled to Central Florida, even making a stop at Disney World.
Cardona attested that she wanted to escape the pain of her son's horrible beatings at her girlfriend's hands and so sank into cocaine use to cope.
To support claims on the influence of her past in the case, her defense presented the court with evidence pertaining to her unsettled Cuban upbringing and the psychological devastation caused by the death of Lazaro's father.
[6] According to prosecutor Reid Rubin, however, Cardona was "angry and spiteful" from the death of her wealthy husband as she had lost a luxurious lifestyle.
Employees for the Florida Power & Light Company discovered Lazaro Figueroa's dead body on the morning of November 2, 1990, at Miami Beach, hidden beneath some bushes.
The t-shirt he was wearing caused the Miami Beach Police Department to name him "Baby Lollipops," and he remained unidentified for weeks after his discovery.
The autopsy revealed that Lazaro had a fresh tear to his corpus callosum as the result of a head injury that occurred hours to days before he died.
[8] Medical examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma testified that Lazaro's physical injuries were inflicted upon him over a long period, and that he had been subject to gagging and repeated starvation.
Cardona argued at her first trial in 1992 that her girlfriend at the time, Olivia Gonzalez, was the one who tortured Lazaro, finally causing his death.
"[9] Throughout the trial, Cardona labelled Gonzalez as a "murderer" and as a "monster" who forced her to succumb to a sexual relationship with her in exchange for food and shelter for herself and her children.
In 2002, Cardona's initial sentence was overturned due to a Brady violation by the prosecution team, who had failed to allow defense attorneys access to interviews with Gonzalez,[4] and the Florida Supreme Court granted her a second trial.
[13] In the second trial, a mentally-handicapped 14-year-old girl, Gloria Pi from Miami Beach, provided a detailed confession of throwing Lazaro against a wall.
"[10] While reading her sentence, the judge, Reemberto Diaz stated, "Ana Maria Cardona, you have forfeited your right to live... Lazaro was tortured to death.
"[15] Cardona spent 17 years on death row before her verdict was overturned by a higher court because the prosecution had used arguments that "improperly inflamed the minds and passions of the jurors".
[18] The jury found Cardona guilty of the death of Lazaro Figueroa in 1990, and the court convicted her of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for a third time.
