SANFORD, Fla. – A Seminole County judge has thrown out the case against a central Florida babysitter ordered to prison after a baby drowned while she was on Facebook.
Mariah Berry, who is now 21 years old, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after the 2012 incident.
Then 18, Berry had been watching 8-month-old Byron Molina-Rios Jr. and his 2-year-old sister when Byron drowned in the bathtub. This happened at an apartment off Fox Quarry Lane in Sanford.
According to the state attorney's office, the defense presented a motion to dismiss the charges based on intellectual disability Wednesday.
The court heard the motion and decided to dismiss without prejudice. One of the attorneys who helped is Cheney Mason, Casey Anthony's attorney during her murder trial.
The baby's family said they were told Wednesday's hearing wasn't a big deal and that they didn't need to attend. They would later find out the babysitter's sentence was tossed out because of "intellectual disability" -- a low IQ. She is also deaf.
"My son had to pay for it. Now, I can say I have a son no more; I had a son," said Molina-Rios. "Are you serious? If this person was so incompetent [why] is she going to be back in the streets."
The family said they were told she may be serving her time in an institution.
Byron's father believes she wasn't always "incompetent."
"It was hard for my 2-year-old at the time, when it first happened, everything she went through: oh, ambulance, fire department. She was scared," he said.
He feels there is no justice.
Molina-Rios told Local 6 he not only feels as though the court system let him down, but the Department of Children and Families. He said he contacted DCF days before over some photos Berry had allegedly posted on Facebook, but nothing was done.
The family is weighing legal options.