Tierra Ortega, 25, sits doubled over in a wheelchair with her head down and her hair covering her face as she is wheeled into Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court for her arraignment Friday March 1, 2019. Ortega was charged with assault on a child causing death in the skull-fracture fatality of her 6-month-old daughter which was found inside her apartment after police were called to the Upland complex where she also is alleged to have had hurled her 19-month-old son from a second-floor landing on Tuesday seriously injuring the child and then jumping off herself. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Tierra Ortega, 25, sits doubled over in a wheelchair with her head down and her hair covering her face as a legal representative speaks during Ortega’s arraignment in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court Friday March 1, 2019. Ortega was charged with assault on a child causing death in the skull-fracture fatality of her 6-month-old daughter which was found inside her apartment after police were called to the Upland complex where she also is alleged to have had hurled her 19-month-old son from a second-floor landing on Tuesday seriously injuring the child and then jumping off herself. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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Tierra Ortega, 25, sits doubled over in a wheelchair with her head down and her hair covering her face as she is wheeled into Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court for her arraignment Friday March 1, 2019. Ortega was charged with assault on a child causing death in the skull-fracture fatality of her 6-month-old daughter which was found inside her apartment after police were called to the Upland complex where she also is alleged to have had hurled her 19-month-old son from a second-floor landing on Tuesday seriously injuring the child and then jumping off herself. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Tierra Ortega, 25, sits doubled over in a wheelchair with her head down and her hair covering her face as she is wheeled out of Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court following her arraignment Friday March 1, 2019. Ortega was charged with assault on a child causing death in the skull-fracture fatality of her 6-month-old daughter which was found inside her apartment after police were called to the Upland complex where she also is alleged to have had hurled her 19-month-old son from a second-floor landing on Tuesday seriously injuring the child and then jumping off herself. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Tierra Ortega, 25, sits doubled over in a wheelchair with her head down and her hair covering her face as she is wheeled out of Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court following her arraignment Friday March 1, 2019. Ortega was charged with assault on a child causing death in the skull-fracture fatality of her 6-month-old daughter which was found inside her apartment after police were called to the Upland complex where she also is alleged to have had hurled her 19-month-old son from a second-floor landing on Tuesday seriously injuring the child and then jumping off herself. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)



The Upland mother accused of killing her six-month-old daughter and throwing her 19-month-old son off of the second-floor landing of their apartment building pleaded not guilty to assault on a child causing death and attempted murder on Friday, March 1.

Tierra Rose Ortega, 25, told Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court Judge Mary Fuller she did not have the money nor the means to hire an attorney. Fuller, who entered a not guilty plea on Ortega’s behalf, said she’d have a defense attorney appointed for her.

Ortega was arrested Tuesday after neighbors told Upland police they saw her throw her son from the landing of a Wedgewood Avenue apartment complex. As officers arrived, Ortega reportedly jumped to the concrete below.

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Ortega and her children were transported to a nearby hospital, where her daughter died. The girl, identified as Ezlynn Xariah Ortega, had suffered a fatal skull fracture. The boy, as of Wednesday, the last time his condition was publicly disclosed, was in stable condition with a broken foot.

On Friday, Ortega appeared in Fuller’s courtroom in a wheelchair, bent over, her face concealed by a curtain of hair. Her voice was muffled and unsteady, causing Fuller to ask her to repeat her answers several times.

Ortega is scheduled to return to court on March 11 for a preliminary hearing, to determine whether evidence supports a trial.

After Ortega was wheeled from the courtroom, a woman, apparently a family member, sobbed loudly in the hallway outside. Outside the courthouse, family members, some concealing their faces from television cameras with the hoods of their sweatshirts, declined to comment.