A Florida woman whose jailhouse pregnancy story was met with worldwide astonishment has now been found guilty of murder. Daisy Link was convicted in the shooting death of Pedro Jimenez, bringing a measure of resolution to a case that had been complicated by a seemingly miraculous event that occurred while she was behind bars awaiting trial.
The case drew global scrutiny when Link announced she was pregnant despite being in custody. She explained that she and a male inmate, Joan DePaz, communicated through vents and devised a method for her to become pregnant without any physical contact. This “miracle baby,” as it was called, was born earlier this year, creating a media firestorm and diverting public attention from the serious murder charge she was facing.
During the trial, the court heard two starkly different versions of the events that led to Jimenez’s death. The defense argued that Link was a battered woman who fired a single shot in a desperate moment to save her own life after enduring violence. In contrast, prosecutors painted her as a killer who shot Jimenez and then showed no remorse, walking away as he lay fatally wounded.
The jury’s decision was remarkably swift, taking less than two hours to find Link guilty of second-degree murder. Reports from the courtroom suggested that the specific details of the shooting, including the location of the wound and Jimenez’s position, critically weakened the self-defense argument in the eyes of the jurors.
Link is now set to be sentenced on November 21. Her family is hoping for a measure of mercy from the court, citing her status as a mother and her claims of being a victim of abuse. The conviction ensures that Daisy Link will be remembered not only for the bizarre circumstances of her daughter’s birth but for the crime that placed her in jail in the first place.
