El Paso mom gets probation in death of baby found in laundry basket after murder case falls apart

Johnnette Dukes called 911, saying her 7-month-old son, A’Legend Dukes, was missing from her Central El Paso apartment a little over a year ago.

Police officers searching the apartment detected a foul odor before finding the unconscious baby under a stack of compressed clothes inside a laundry basket. The baby was declared dead at a hospital.

Detectives arrested Dukes on a capital murder charge in connection with her son’s death on May 8, 2021.

The capital murder case would fall apart. This week Dukes was given probation after pleading guilty to a felony charge of attempted tampering of evidence in the case.

The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of death as asphyxia, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by detectives.

Grand jury declined to indict woman on murder charges

But a grand jury declined to indict Dukes on capital murder or murder because the medical examiner's report did not determine a manner or means of death, the office of El Paso District Attorney Yvonne Rosales said Tuesday in a statement.

"Without the manner or means of death, the Grand Jury only indicted Ms. Dukes for Attempted Tampering of Evidence," the statement read.

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On Monday, Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza sentenced Dukes to five years probation after she pleaded guilty to tampering of evidence in 120th District Court, according to court records.

Under the terms of deferred adjudication, the charge will be dismissed upon successful completion of probation, including 100 hours of community service and $300 in court fees.

Baby boy found dead

An investigation began the morning of May 8, 2021, when Dukes called 911 saying that her son was missing from her apartment in the 3600 block of Johnson Avenue near Travis Elementary School in the Lower Dyer area.

Dukes, then 19, told police that she had left A'Legend in his car seat, secured by shoulder straps while she took a nap for more than an hour, according to the complaint affidavit.

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Dukes woke up about 10:30 a.m. to find her baby gone and called 911, police said. She told police she had locked the doors to her apartment and no one had entered.

Officers arrived and immediately began searching for the child in and around the apartment complex.

Dukes’ apartment was “very messy, old food and dishes, trash, clothes and dirty diapers were all over the floor of the residence,” the affidavit stated.

An officer found the baby in a fetal position at the bottom of a laundry basket at the foot of a bed in a bedroom. The baby was under a pile of clothes compressed on top of him, the affidavit states.

Officers attempted to resuscitate the boy, who was taken to El Paso Children’s Hospital and pronounced dead. Dukes immediately invoked her right to a lawyer.

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According to the affidavit, a friend of Dukes told investigators that she babysat A’Legend the night before while Dukes was at work. Dukes picked up the baby the next day around 6 a.m.

Security camera video from a nearby store showed Dukes carrying what is believed to A’Legend in a car seat and enter her apartment, the affidavit states. The video showed nobody else enter the home between 6:50 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., when police arrived at the scene.

A’Legend was a healthy, playful and "happy baby" who wasn't able to walk yet, his babysitter told investigators, adding that Dukes struggled with the child because she had no family support, the affidavit stated.

The babysitter told police A’Legend was just learning to crawl, just started sitting up on his own and had never been able to get out of his car seat, the affidavit stated.

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"There is no evidence to support (A’Legend) crawling or climbing into the laundry basket" with the way he was found under a compressed stack of clothes, the affidavit stated.

Investigators found Dukes allegedly attempted to delete phone records of calls she made before phoning 911, indicating she lied about what time she woke up and found the baby missing, the affidavit stated.

Police also pointed out that Dukes showed little emotion after finding her son and when told that he died at the hospital, affidavit stated.

Defense raises questions

Dukes' lawyer argued from the start that detectives did not have probable cause to accuse the young mother of murder in the boy's death.

The police investigation attempted to connect actions that aren't criminal to the death, public defender Chris Hernandez said at a bond hearing for Dukes days after her arrest in May 2021.

"Basically what the complaint affidavit says is that Ms. Dukes' son, A'Legend, was found at the bottom of this laundry basket with clothes on top of him and that Ms. Dukes behaved suspiciously and requested a lawyer and didn't cooperate with the investigation and this led them to believe somehow that she committed capital murder," Hernandez said.

Under Texas law, capital murder, which includes cases involving the killing of a child, is punishable by the death penalty and life in prison.

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Dukes was later booked on a charge of abandonment/endangerment of a child in connection with the case before that charge was dismissed in Dec. 17 after the indictment on the felony tampering charge was handed up on Dec. 9, according to court and jail records.

According to jail records, Dukes has been out of jail since August when she was released on a $20,000 bond, She had been initially jailed without bond on the capital murder charge.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 915-546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso mom gets probation in death of baby found in laundry basket