Good Morning El Paso: 09.18.15

jurors waking up in a hotel right now have a big decision on their hands. should a mother be found guilty after her baby died of heat exhaustion. and another big case happening today… we are waiting to learn the punishment for a woman convicted of murder in a drug deal gone wrong. and the latest on the childrens hospital bankruptcy…. and the possibility that the hospital may end up shutting its doors. a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m hillary floren. good morning, everyone. good morning! today we’re watching temps again in the 60s and 70s. the winds this am are light and our sky conditions are mostly clear. the cold front that will affect us tomorrow, which is the reason for our first alert. another hot day today will turn into a mid to upper 80s forecast saturday and with the big temperature drop, we’ll see a big increase in rain chances as well! could be a bumpy weekend. we’ll explain what we expect coming up in a few minutes! this morning– a woman found guilty of murder sits behind bars awaiting her punishment. sonia bautista was convicted yesterday of helping two others kill jose castanon during a drug deal. good morning el paso’s denise olivas is live with more… denise? sonia bautista faces five years to life in prison. in may of 2013 she killed 22-year- old jose castanon. police officers found castanon’s body inside a home on the 26-hundred block of hamilton. they say bautista and her friends, brianna garay and ricardo macias, were trying to buy ecstacy pills from castanon. bautista took the stand in her own defense earlier this week. she told the court castanon attacked her with sciccors … so she smashed a cookie jar over his head. we be followiing the trial at the el paso county courthouse– stay with abc-7 for the latest. happening today … we may learn the fate of el paso mother wakesha ives. she is being tried for the death of her five month old baby girl — killed from heat exposure after ives allegedly left her in the car while she went to work. after three hours of debate yesterday… the jury couldn’t come to a decision. they’re sequestered right now in a nearby hotel. the defense argues ives truly did not know the child was in the car.. and her child’s death was not an intentional act. the prosecution says ives shouldn’t evade punishment for being forgetful. the trial gets underway again this morning at 8-30. a military court is continuing with hearings today to determine if army sergeant bowe bergdahl should face a court martial. it’s the latest chapter in the story of a soldier who has been the subject of controversy since his 20-14 release after five years as a taliban prisoner. andrew spencer reports on the story developing now… lawyers for army sergeant bowe bergdahl have two goals -to keep him out of prison… ….and to get more his side of the story out to the public, amid the harsh criticism he’s received. “many people have made up their minds. i think it would be healthy, uh, for everyone to have more information rather than less information.” the military says six years ago he purposefully abandoned his unit in afghanistan, they’ve charged him with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. held as a taliban prisoner for more than five years, bergdahl was released in a swap for five taliban members who had been held at guantanamo bay the exchange was met with fierce criticism from those who fought alongside bergdahl in afghanistan. they accused him of desertion, which is the topic of this week’s preliminary hearing . on thursday bergdahl sat with his civilian and military defense attorneys as his platoon leader from afghanistan testified for the prosecution. on cross, bergdahl’s attorney’s — brought up their client’s mental health history–and later pushed for greater transparency “we’ve been in a thus far fruitless effort to persuade the army to allow us to release sergeant bergdahl’s extensive interview transcript.” if bergdahl is court martialed and found guilty, he faces a potential maximum penalty of life in prison i’m andrew spencer, reporting. from our new mexico mobile newsroom … dona ana county sheriff officials say they’ve caught the man responsible for severly beating up a teenager at a house party last weekend. they say 22-year-old deric edward joyce is a fort bliss soldier. investigators say joyce was caught on video throwing 18- year-old gabriel benavidez to the ground and then kicking him in the face. it happened sunday morning on the six thousand block of vista de oro. benavidez is still in critical condition at university medical center here in el paso. he was in a coma but has since regained consciousness. more trouble for the el paso children’s hospital. university medical center says it may no longer want to take over children’s … and it might let the troubled children’s hospital close down. that’s because umc says its learned children’s may owe the federal government anywhere between 22 and 66 million dollars- depending on potential penalities. children’s reported to the feds that it paid 27- million dollars in rent to umc when it really didn’t. and the feds reimbursed children’s for some of that. so umc is sending another offer to children’s: giving it time to find another partner but with the condition it stop litigation during that time. 04:40 the children’s hospital would have to close it’s doors and umc would probably open up a pediatric wing. that’s a real possiblity 07:08 childrens runs a serious risk of losing the one and only opportunity they have to keep the hospital going 14:17 if we have a third party strategic partner, they can infuse new money and pay off the creditors in full yesterday we mentioned an option children’s had in it’s plan… to move out of the building if children’s finds a partner. but u-m-c says no way because it’s a bad deal for taxpayers. the department of health has confirmed three new cases of the west nile virus in el paso. who is infected? an elderly man and woman who both live in central and a an elderly man from the lower valley. so far there have been two west nile related deaths this year. health officials urge everyone to protect yourself using deet especially following the recent rain and a rainy weekend ahead. standing water is also a breeding ground for mosquitoes. authorities in chile say at least eleven people were killed by the powerful earthquake that struck the northern part of the country wednesday night. officials say the number could climb as emergency crews reach the areas that were hardest-hit. the 8-point-3 quake has been followed by dozens of aftershocks. in chile’s inland cities, people slept outside overnight. along the coast, people got in their cars to seek higher ground, fearing a tsunami. we will have more on this story later on good morning el paso.. in utah… authorities say searchers have found the last body of seven hikers killed in flash flooding that swept through a narrow canyon at zion national park. the bodies of three men and one woman were found tuesday, and two other bodies were found wednesday. the group set out monday, before park officials closed the canyons due to flooding. park rangers say the group was told about the danger of flash flooding before they entered — but there was no way to warn them once the waters began to rise. thousands of migrants and refugees are pouring into croatia — a day after hungary closed its southern border with serbia. but croatia’s interior minister says that his country is at capacity and can’t take in any more people. at least 73- hundred refugees and migrants had entered the country from serbia by mid- day. from croatia, they hope to reach germany by traveling up through slovenia and then through austria. e-u leaders have so far failed to find common ground on the crisis. european council president donald tusk says a new meeting is scheduled for september 23rd. at , here’s a look at how your commute is shaping up this morning. the tx-dot traffic cams at … keep it here for more to come on good morning el paso… is it renting a bike? or sharing a bike? the city wants to clarify the new program in downtown el paso… and what it’s meant for. but first – stormtrack weather! meteorologist krystal kleihas your complete forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first! el paso’s