WNY incest mom could be out of jail in ‘days’

Lucila Ventura, 22, will soon be out of jail after being sentenced to five years in prison for throwing her two newborn children down the airshaft of the building where she lived in West New York.
Ventura was determined to have been impregnated twice by her father, who is also in jail. Her sentence has been reduced due to mitigating factors including her I.Q. of 72. The average person has an I.Q. of approximately 100.
Ventura was charged in 2005 with throwing an infant down the airshaft after a neighbor heard screams from the shaft in September of 2005.
The child was rescued and is now in an undisclosed location, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

_____________

“There is the possibility that she can be out free within a few days.” – County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio
________

When Ventura’s second child was found, the decomposed remains of Ventura’s first child were found in the same location. Investigators determined they were that of a baby girl whom Ventura had thrown out in the same manner in 2003.
Ventura pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter for the death of her first child and aggravated assault for throwing the second child down the shaft.
In 2007, Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan sentenced Ventura to five years in prison for both offenses. Jose Ventura, the father, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
If Lucila Ventura were to carry out her sentence for the full five years she was given, she would be out on parole in December of this year, but the Appellate Division of the State Superior Court chose to overturn that sentence and reduce it to four years instead.
That means that she has already served her sentence.
“There is the possibility that she can be out free within a few days,” said DeFazio.
Reports say that the reason her sentence was reduced was that the appellate court took into account factors including her sexual abuse by her father, her possible depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome, and her having an IQ of 72.

Asking for five instead of four

DeFazio said his office is asking for Ventura to carry out her original sentence and petitioning the courts to reconsider. He doesn’t know when the court will review his petition and thinks the case may go to the State Supreme Court for a hearing.
In the meantime, DeFazio said he didn’t know where Ventura is being held, though he suspects she is in a New Jersey State Prison.
Melissa Rappaport may be reached at mrappaport@hudsonreporter.com