EDINBURG -- Authorities scrambled Friday to figure out how to arrest, incarcerate and prosecute a woman estimated to weigh nearly half a ton who was indicted on capital murder charges earlier this week.

Mayra Rosales, 27, has remained under house arrest since she was charged in March with beating her 2-year-old nephew to death.

But now that her case has moved into the state court system, law enforcement officials must address a whole new set of logistical problems before it can go to trial.

"We're struggling to find a place where she can be kept under lock and key," said Rene Guerra, the Hidalgo County district attorney. "We have to wait and see what the judge decides."

A state district judge is expected to sign a new arrest warrant for Rosales on Monday -- a standard practice in criminal cases involving indictment.

Most other defendants would have to go through the booking process again and be given a new bond. However, sheriff's deputies are already worried about accommodating Rosales' health and quality of life.

The Hidalgo County Jail is not physically equipped to handle an inmate who weighs nearly 1,000 pounds, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. And even if his office found a cell and a bed large enough for her, deputies are unsure the jail doctor is qualified to handle her various medical needs.

Previously, the sheriff's office has housed inmates with disabilities such as severe heart conditions and cirrhosis of the liver in area hospitals under round-the-clock guard.

But the costs of checking Rosales in for constant medical care could reach as high as $5,000 a day, according to the district attorney's office.

"I'm not ready to take that kind of money out of the county coffers if there are other options," Guerra said. "But I will if I have to."

Treviño suggested Friday that the court allow Rosales to remain under effective house arrest and be monitored using a global positioning system until her presence is required in court.

"I think she has shown from the day of her (initial) arrest to the day of her indictment that she's not a flight risk," he said.

CROWDED COURTROOM

Once she is summoned to court, a new set of problems arises.

Family members had to dismantle part of Rosales' La Joya home when they moved soon after 2-year-old Eliseo Gonzalez Jr.'s death. And accommodating her in the cramped courtrooms that fill the Hidalgo County Courthouse could prove impossible.

State law requires that all district court business take place in the county seat -- in this case Edinburg. But court hearings could be moved to a more spacious building within city limits if necessary.

Earlier this year, a New York Supreme Court justice agreed to arraign a 500-pound man in a parking lot, where he sat in the bed of a pickup truck. The man claimed his weight prevented him from climbing the courthouse steps.

"You could turn a gym into a courtroom if you needed to," Treviño said.

Rosales has refused to comment since her initial arrest. It was unclear Friday whether she had retained an attorney.

Her 20-year-old sister Jamie Lee Rosales, Eliseo's mother, was indicted Thursday on one felony count of injury to a child, a charge punishable by up to life in prison and $10,000 in fines upon conviction.

Prosecutors allege the mother left her child with the boy's morbidly obese aunt even though the younger Rosales knew her sister was incapable of caring for a toddler.

The elder Rosales sister could face the death penalty if she is found guilty of capital murder, but a prison sentence of any length is likely to raise a whole new set of questions.

"The cost may be astronomical," the sheriff said. "But you can't put a price on justice."

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.