Balcony Horror Mom Catches Shocking Break in Case

A tragic death shocked the community in. Galveastston, Texas. A 17-month-old girl. was found dead after falling from a. thirdf flooror balcony, and authorities. say her own mother may have caused this. fall. But now, prosecutors have made a. pivotal decision that changes the stakes. for this upcoming trial. We're going to. break it down with a Texas-based trial. attorney and get her insights into this. case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by. Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Just a heartbreaking story out of. Galveastston, Texas. We want to talk. about this Houston woman is facing. serious charges after her 17-month-old. daughter died in what authorities are. describing as a shocking and deliberate. act. That's the key. And now prosecutors. have made a major decision that changes. everything. It changes the whole stakes. for this upcoming trial. In October of. 2024, emergency responders were called.

to an area near 59th Street and Seaw. Boulevard after reports of a child that. was injured on the street. According to. a probable cause affidavit by Detective. Matthew Larson, officers arrive and they. find this small pool of blood on the. street and a white blanket partially on. the sidewalk. Hannah Yonko, just about a. year and a half old, was already in an. ambulance and rushed to the hospital. Now, tragically, she did not survive.

Hospital personnel pronounced her death. at 10:34 a.m. And investigators noted. that she had three puncture wounds on. her back. So, that could suggest that. those injuries may have occurred prior. to her fall. And that is when. investigators quickly uncovered shocking. details. Surveillance footage from the. Beachfront Palms Hotel allegedly. captured the moment that Hannah fell. from a thirdf flooror balcony and. authorities believe that her mother,

30-year-old Chanel Yonko, intentionally. caused this fall. A trash bag recovered. from the hotel's parking garage. contained a knife, a hotel room key, plastic sand toys, unopened diapers, and. snacks. Witness accounts, including. statements from Yonko's sister, added. even more context. The sisters had been. sharing a hotel room with Hannah. And on. the morning of the incident, the sister. left to meet her fianceé at another. hotel. Now, Chanel Yonko apparently.

later appeared at the Victorian hotel. pushing a stroller, but her sister. didn't see Hannah in the stroller. Had. no reason to believe that the child. wasn't there. And when her sister. suggested returning to the hotel to get. their luggage, Yonko reportedly insisted. they shouldn't go back. So police, they. acted quickly after reviewing witness. statements and the surveillance footage, and they identified Yonko as the. suspect. She was arrested at a nearby. restaurant. She was charged with capital. murder. Pre-trial hearings revealed that.

she would be represented by council, had. requested to speak with a lawyer rather. than providing statements to police at. the time of her arrest. According to. Houston public media, Yonko even. underwent a psychiatric evaluation. following her indictment. Psychiatrist. Edward Grippen concluded that she was. competent to stand trial, meaning she. understood the legal process, could. participate in her defense, and Yonko. reportedly denied using drugs or. alcohol, but did disclose that she had. sustained past head trauma and.

occasional forgetfulness. Forensic. psychologist Dr. April Alexander has. been asked to provide insight into how. such evaluations work and how mental. health factors might be considered in. death penalty cases. And when we talk. about Miss Yonko, so ABC13 dug into her. past and they viewed a marriage. certificate for her and an 80year-old. man from 2017. Two years after the. marriage, the man filed to have it. enulled, saying he was tricked into. marrying her and that the marriage was.

never consummated. This again according. to ABC13's reporting. And to make. matters even worse, Yonko reportedly has. a documented history with the Texas. Department of Family and Protective. Services, which investigates child abuse. and neglect. That's according to what a. spokesperson for the department told. Houston Public Media. And Houston Public. Media reports that one of her other. children required medical attention in. 2019 after being found with quote blue. lips and a red body in her crib. That.

incident involved intervention by child. protective services. Although to be. clear, no neglect charges appear to have. been pursued. But that is interesting. and that is significant. And by the way, talking significant, there's another. significant update that we want to talk. about. The Galveastston County District. Attorney's Office has announced that it. will not seek the death penalty at this. time. Now, you may think by watching. Sidebar, you've seen it all. Let me tell. you, think again. 50 Ways to Catch a.

Killer. Okay, this brings you real cases. where detectives had to flip the script. to take down cold-blooded killers. Hosted by 50 Cent. This isn't your. typical crime show, okay? It is a. highstakes twistfilled ride into the. minds of investigators who think outside. the badge to break the case. From. unforgettable setups to shocking reveals. every episode proves when killers think. they got away with murder, think again. Watch 50 ways to catch a killer with 50. Cent exclusively on Fox Nation. K HOU1. reports that during a pre-trial hearing. on September 17th, Assistant District.

Attorney Casey Kurs informed Judge. Patricia Grady that the office would not. pursue capital punishment. And now the. question would be why. So to help me. break down this development and more, I. want to bring on trial attorney and. former prosecutor Bridget Williams. Thank you so much uh for taking the. time. I want to start right there. From. a legal standpoint, what does it mean. for the DA to decide not to seek the. death penalty in a case like this?

Because you're talking about the death. of a child. I imagine there are probably. aggravating factors that would permit. the death penalty to be pursued. What. does it mean? Why do you think it's not. being pursued? >> So, the death penalty in the state of. Texas can uh be come into play for. multiple reasons. The death of a child. is one of those. a person can be charged. with capital murder if they are uh being. accused of killing a child. Right? So. that is one of the the ways that a. person can be charged with capital.

murder and also have the death penalty. against them. Now it is up to the. district attorney's office to make the. decision on if they want to pursue it or. not. The the district attorneys have a. range of punishment where the death. penalty is the highest when they're. being charged with capital murder, right? So they can choose if they want. to move forward with that based off of. the evidence that is presented to them. So like we you just stated, there could. be extenduating circumstances, that. could be mental health issues, that. could be other factors that defense.

council has presented to the DA's office. to help them to come to that conclusion. Now, that is this district attorney's um. decision. If another district attorney. comes along prior to them making this. agreement final before she actually. agrees to a plea, a different district. attorney can make another decision. Right. So, it is it's the range of. punishment that they can move forward. with and they can choose not to move. forward with if they want to or not. >> Do you think that some of the factors.

are a if we make this a death penalty. case, it's going to extend the whole. process. Death penalty cases notoriously. can take longer than traditional cases. and there may be a concern given any. kind of mental health considerations. It. may be difficult finding a death. qualified jury. In other words, jurors. who are open to imposing the death. penalty if the facts and evidence lead. them there. >> That's a great point, JC. I think that. one, death penalty cases do take a lot. longer um than a murder case. Um, a lot.

of times murder trials can last, goodness, weeks, um, a death penalty. case can last even longer than that. Um, and when we talk about finding a jury. that is open to the death penalty, especially in a county such as. Galveston, it's a a smaller county, um, and you may not have individuals who may. be open and who can be completely bias, unbiased, right? someone who doesn't. have views um that are for or against.

the death penalty, but but they can have. an unbiased opinion about it. And so. that is something that when we we. consider that um that the the jury is. someone that can be unbiased or not, that the prosecution is going to take. that into consideration 110%. >> Now, here's the thing, though. this was. a death penalty case and it was an. option for punishment. Time and again we. have seen that that can be used as a. bargaining chip that can be used to have. a defendant plead guilty where the death.

penalty is taken off the table to avoid. a trial particularly in a case as with. this kind of difficult subject matter. They I don't imagine prosecutors would. want to expose a jury to all this, the. photos of all this if they don't have. to. They just now with the death penalty. off the table that that is giving less. incentive for um Miss Yonko to plead. guilty. Well, I think it's not just the. prosecution that wanted to show that to. a jury, but if I was defense council, I.

don't know how I would want to, you. know, move forward with showing the. evidence of a 17-month-old to a a jury. either. Um, that's not going to go over. well. And so, defense council may be. talking with Miss Yonko about how will. that be seen to a jury as well if you. were to move forward in a trial setting. So taking the death penalty off of the. table may give her some incentive to. plea to another plea offer that the. state is offering to her instead of.

moving the case to trial. >> How do you prosecute a case like this? How do you build a case like this where. you're basically saying a mother. brutally killed her young daughter in. horrific fashion? This is not an easy. case. How do prosecutors build a case. like this? >> It's not an easy case. Um it's not a. easy case for anyone to really to. stomach, right? Because I mean, there's. so many specific details that are just.

so graphic with this. You have a a young. child who's thrown over a balcony, who. um has puncture wounds as well, who is, you know, has broken bones. You have. different things that are going on here. and the state has to move forward and. actually showing those pictures and that. information to a jury, it's going to be. a very um heart touching type of trial. and the prosecution again and defense. counsel either one of them. I wouldn't.

be want I wouldn't want to move forward. with a trial like that unless it was. necessary if I'm defense counsel. Um, and so just having that conversation. with Miss Yonko from defense counsel. telling her these are all the things. that are going to come out in the. prosecution. These are all the things. that are going to come out to a jury and. they are going to have all of this. information and that could easily. increase it if the if the state takes it. off of the table of the the death. penalty. if you decide to go to them for.

punishment or anything like that, they. could take it back up and um to the the. maximum allowed for her to go to prison. So, it's it's several different things. there. If I was defense council, I. wouldn't be asking um or talking to her, encouraging her to move forward in a. trial setting like this. >> Surveillance footage is a potentially. key piece of evidence in this case. You. talked about defense council. How do. they challenge it? How do they challenge. its use? How do they challenge it? How. do they challenge it being interpreted. by a jury? Because isn't it pretty.

clear-cut or no? >> It can be pretty clear clear-cut. Um. they would have to just make sure that. they know. Okay. But the evidence from a. video um was taken from a independent. source, right? Is it something that can. be admitted into evidence? But most of. the time something like that is going to. be able to come into evidence. Um a a. court would allow a video to come into. evidence like that. um and it will be up. to the jury to decide on if its value um.

is important for them to decide if it's. something that they can use to determine. guilt or innocence. So, it's it's more. than likely I'm going to say 99% of the. time it's coming in evidence. >> I'll tell you what I think is pretty. compelling, the puncture wounds, the. trash bag with the various items. When. you're talking about physical evidence. like that, how do you think that's going. to factor into the prosecution's case? I think there's just so much. overwhelming evidence in this particular.

case. Like you just stated, the puncture. rooms from the child, um the video, the. trash bags, the room key that comes in. the trash bags. I mean, there's just so. much overwhelming evidence that could. come into play um for uh Miss Yonko in. this case. And so with that being said, we don't know exactly what defense. council may be talking to the. prosecution about, but I presume it's. something that is um imperative that. allowed for them to reduce their offer.

from the death penalty down to just a. murder case. But all of that evidence is. still overwhelming. And that is evidence. that wouldn't play out well for her in a. trial. >> Because here's the thing. Even if the. defense, and I don't know if they're. going to do this, but even if the. defense were say this was a complete. accident, this young girl fell off the. balcony. The argument would be you have a mother. who's still trying to cover it up and. acts like nothing's there and doesn't. want to go back to the hotel, is pushing.

the stroller, the child's not there. I I. you know, I've covered cases before. where somebody will say, "Listen, I. didn't kill this person. Um I panicked. I disposed of the body. I tried to hover. it up, but you can't prove I murdered. the person. Okay. Doesn't it feel. different here? Because the immediate. reaction would be call 911. I mean, the. immediate reaction if it was a panic. Again, I I I'm struggling. I'm. struggling to find how this could make. sense because the other way of saying it.

is in those other cases is somebody. panicked. They didn't want to be, you. know, they thought that they would be. accused of committing of killing that. person. They didn't know what to do. They disposed of the body. Um, but this. one feels different when you're talking. about a mother and a child, right? >> It does. I mean, all those things that. you just mentioned, but in addition to. that, the puncture wounds on the child. That's a thing that I just can't. necessarily. >> They'll have their own expert. They'll. to say, "Oh, those injuries were caused. maybe by the fall or something else." I. mean, that's true. But if I'm a.

prosecutor, I'm going to be moving. forward with, you know, well, do these. puncture rooms um show or resemble. something that is or could have been. caused by the fall, right? Well, and the. prosecution will have their expert that. says, "Well, no, it wasn't. That was. caused by a knife or whatever it may. be." And so, I mean, I think that. there's just again so much evidence. against this this woman um for to show. that this was intentionally done. There's just so much overwhelming. evidence. I don't really see anything. that says that this was an accident um.

and that she didn't mean to do this. >> Talk about what comes into evidence. Um. her reported prior involvement with CPS, those CPS reports, this prior incident. with her other child. Can any of that be. used as evidence in this trial? Is it. relevant or is it too prejuditial and. won't be allowed in? I think it's relevant, but it's up to a. judge to determine if it's going to be. something that's allowed into evidence.

for a trial. So, prior bad acts. That's. going to be something where um the state. will more than likely raise motions to. bring that into evidence and defense. council can and should object to. allowing any type of priorics to come. into evidence. Um and then it's up to a. judge to determine if it is um the value. of that being allowed into evidence is. in fact worth it for the jury to hear. And so we it depends on the judge. honestly because a judge can say yes or.

no. >> This uh is a case that also has that. mental health component. They talked. about that a psychiatric evaluation was. conducted to determine competency. Um, we talked before about past head trauma. or memor memory issues. They're sort of related, sort of not. related. What are you taking away from. those aspects of this case and how it. might factor into a trial? >> When we talk about mental health, the. point that the court cares about is, is.

the person competent? Are you competent. enough to stand trial? And do you. understand right from wrong? Do you. understand um, you know, what exactly is. going on here? Right? Do you understand. what we're doing here? And so her mental. health evaluation determined that she. was in fact competent. So everything. else will just be what we call. mitigating circumstances, mitigating. factors in a discussion probably with. the prosecution prior to moving forward. to a trial. So if we are going back and.

forth with negotiations with with a. prosecution, then I would just bring up. that information that she's had prior. head trauma, she's had memory loss. Um. and who knows that may be evidence that. the that the state used to um reduce it. from a capital murder case, right? So. that may be something that they did. consider, but the court itself, their. job is to determine is she competent and. she was in fact deemed to be competent. >> Um is it possible there's a defense due.

to significant head trauma? the. defendant doesn't recall what happened. to her daughter, has no understanding. what happened to her daughter, that she. acted in a way that maybe doesn't. indicate guilt, but indicates. a lapse with reality, a lapse with. understanding what happened. It's not. necessar I I wouldn't say insanity, but. something else is. Have you seen. anything like that? >> Yeah, I don't think that that rises to. the level of insanity, but I I do I get. what you're saying there. What I I would.

say is that if she has a um if she has a. an expert witness that can testify that, you know, well, based off of what I have. evaluated with her, she often has um. laps in memory, she also has laps in. judgment, she, you know, has all of this. and she has a history and a pattern of. that. Then that may be something again. that the court allows into evidence.

That is something that happens generally. in the pre-trials where the defense. council may ask a judge to allow that. into a trial. And again, the judge is. the person who makes the determining. factor or makes a determining decision. on if that can be allowed into evidence. and it just depends on if they say yes. or no. Now, I will say despite uh the. uncertainty regarding the death penalty. at this point, this trial is scheduled. to begin on December 1st, 2025, it's. expected to last 2 weeks. When you think.

about this, it seems like more of an. advantage for the prosecutors on on jury. selection, who they will want. Who does. the defense want to sit on a jury like. this? immediately you're going to want people. who um do not have small children, right? Or have ties to small children if. you're defense counsel on a case like. this. Um and that's that's the first. thing off the off the top. Then you want. to make sure that they are individuals. who are um have not had any type of.

feelings towards the death penalty. Even. if that's taken off the table, that's I. still would want anybody who has views. about that on that. I would also, if I. was defense counsel, I want someone who. understands um the gravity of mental. health and how it can really impact a. person um on their day-today life and. not just understands it, but they have a. view that says that this could really. have happened in this case. So, someone. who's open-minded um to that point and.

not bias against that to just say, well, no, that couldn't be a factor before. they even start. So both sides are going. to want someone who can be um unbiased. and that can have just a a fair point to. both sides. They come in, they look at. the evidence that is presented um from. both sides and they can make a. determining a decision based off of. that. >> It's such a horrible case. It's so so. sad. We've been talking the legal points. about it, but from a human point of. view, it is just very hard to imagine. Um Bridget Williams, thank you so much.

for coming on. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for having me. And that is all. we have for you right now here on. Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much. for joining us. And as always, please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your. podcast. You can follow me on Instagram. or X. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next. time. [Music]. [Music].