A woman who police said stabbed two children in a home where she lived in a January 2023 incident has been convicted on four charges.
After a four-day trial, a jury Friday found Doris Espinoza-Rodriguez guilty of two counts of attempted second degree murder with a weapon, aggravated child abuse with a weapon and felony battery. The state previously dropped five other charges against her.
Espinoza-Rodriguez, now 40, will be sentenced on Dec. 9. She faces up to life in prison. The State Attorney's Office said the lowest possible sentence for felony battery is "nearly 20 years."
During the trial Espinoza-Rodriguez, who rejected a plea deal from prosecutors, professed her innocence and claimed self-defense, testifying that the children's father had ordered them to attack her.
The woman had no prior arrest record in Osceola County prior to the incident, although Sheriff Marcos Lopez said she "had domestic charges in Arizona" at a press conference days after the Jan. 17, 2023 incident. He said at the time he believed Espinoza-Rodriguez originally lived in the home renting a room and began a casual relationship with the father.
According to police and court documents, the stabbing occurred after an argument between the two adults began at a restaurant, and continued to the home. The father said he would call police, and Espinoza-Rodriguez reportedly ran into the home.
When police arrived, the man's 14-year-old son opened door with apparent stab wounds to chest and shoulder. Deputies entered and found the father, who said Espinoza-Rodriguez stabbed them, holding down the woman, and they took her into custody. In another bedroom, they found the man's 10-year-old girl with shoulder stab wounds. A paring knife with blood on the blade was found in another room. The children were flown to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando and eventually recovered.
