Anthony Avalos' half-siblings testified earlier this month that they had been forced to undergo punishment, including kneeling on uncooked rice, and that they saw their mother's boyfriend dropping Anthony repeatedly on the bedroom floor.
Leiva and Barron now face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as charged.
During his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Saeed Teymouri told the judge that Barron and Leiva tortured and abused Anthony for two weeks before his death, while an attorney for Leiva countered that his client should be acquitted of murder. The prosecutor said the boy was "already brain dead" and had been lying on the floor in the family's townhouse "for at least a day, possibly more" when Barron called 911 to seek assistance for the boy, and that the two "concocted a story that Anthony Avalos had injured himself."
The defense lawyer questioned the accounts of the boy's half-siblings, whose testimony he said has changed over time. "This case is a case of severe abuse, but as to Mr. Leiva, it is not a murder," the defense lawyer told the judge.
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