"Baby Lollipops" murder

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. Acquaintances of Ana Maria Cardona testified against her by recounting how she had consistently treated Lazaro poorly. Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 40 years and served 14 years.

Gonzalez testified that on the "last day of October" (the last day before Lazaro's death), Cardona "got pissed off and she hit [Lazaro] with a bat over the head" because he was slow in taking off his diaper. She stated that Cardona hit Lazaro until "a hole was opened up in his head". "His head was cracked." Gonzalez explained that the wound "started bleeding and bleeding and bleeding, and then I put mercury on it and I applied a plastic band."[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. Defense attorney Steven Yermish remarked, "She was in an abusive relationship she viewed as inescapable because she was being provided for."[10]

Judge David L. Tobin described Lazaro's long-standing abuse as the most "heinous, atrocious and cruel of all times."[11] Cardona was found guilty of first-degree murder as well as aggravated child abuse. She received a sentence of death based on the condition of her son's body,[12] becoming the first woman to be sent to death row in Florida.

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. At the second trial in 2010, prosecutors focused their attention on Lazaro's physical condition and the abuse he had suffered at the hands of his mother.[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. As a result, Cardona's legal defense team attempted to shift the blame of Lazaro's murder from Cardona to the girl. During the trial, Pi retracted her confession and maintained that she was innocent, emphasizing that she had never cared for or met Lazaro when the defense posited that in the days leading up to his death, Pi was looking after him.[14] The jury requested that the confession be reread during their deliberation for the verdict. However, the jurors discounted Pi's testimony because there was not enough evidence to suggest that Lazaro ever stayed at Pi's residence. State prosecutor Kathleen Pautler described the confession as a "diversionary tactic" used by Cardona's defense team.

Miami-Dade jurors again found Cardona guilty of the two counts, and in 2011, she was sentenced to death a second time. In contrast to her outrage at the verdict in the 1992 trial, Cardona appeared collected when her sentence was handed down. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle stated, "Almost 20 years later, a second jury heard the evidence and has come to the same conclusion...The truth still remains the truth."[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".[16]

The prosecution in the third trial did not seek the death penalty.[16]

In her third trial in 2017, a neighbor testified, "She closed the door...it didn't appear that any lights were on but the shower was going and he was screaming." She stated that Lazaro was "very small, very thin, very frail." However, Cardona insisted under oath that she did not inflict significant abuse on her son or break any of his bones. She also continued to recant her 1990 statement that Lazaro fell off the bed and hit his head, causing the tear in his corpus callosum. Instead, she placed the blame on her ex-girlfriend Olivia Gonzalez, insisting that she struck Lazaro with a baseball bat.[17] The defense said they would introduce evidence Gonzalez had confessed to hitting the boy with the baseball bat and killing him.[16]

Cardona's lawyer, Stephen Yermish, attempted to persuade the jury that while she was indeed a bad mother, she was not necessarily a murderer. He conceded that "the charge of aggravated child abuse may have been proven", but that the "charge of murder has not".[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. However, this time she was sentenced to life in prison instead of a death sentence. Presiding Judge Miguel de la O remarked, "there are wild beasts that show more empathy for their offspring than you showed Lazaro."[19]

Cardona's elder son, a 37-year-old named Juan Puente, died while also in prison. Puente, was serving a 10-year sentence for burglary, died at Gulf Correctional Institution's Annex in February 2018. While in jail in 2010, he was brought to a Miami courtroom to testify on his mother's behalf in an effort to convince a jury to spare her life. "The case followed him around, every time he got arrested. It was like a revolving door," said Cardona's former lawyer, Edith Georgi. "The kid had a really sweet way about him. He was very easy to get to know and friendly. But he had an addiction he couldn't cure."[20]