BREAKING: Heather Maxine Barron, 33, and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 37, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Anthony Avalos' June 21, 2018, death.
Hatami -- who objected to the decision and has announced plans to run for the job as the county's top prosecutor -- told reporters that he had refused to comply with an order by Gascón to remove the special circumstance allegation, which would have resulted in a 25-year-to-life sentence in which the two defendants could have eventually been eligible for parole.Heather Maxine Barron reacts as family members give heartbreaking testimonies.
Two of the boy's half-siblings -- who were called during the prosecution's case -- testified in February that they had been forced to undergo punishment, including kneeling on uncooked rice, wrestling each other and watching each other be disciplined. "Together, they were deadly," the deputy district attorney told the judge, explaining that Barron was the one who "came up with many of these torture techniques" and that she chose Leiva to act as the enforcer for the discipline used on the boy and two of his half-siblings.
One of Barron's attorneys, Nancy Sperber, contended that her client is a victim of battered woman syndrome, and said Leiva had taken "full and complete responsibility for every act of violence" against Anthony. "He admitted to brutalizing Anthony," she said of his interview with Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives. "He confessed to every single act of violence and torture."
He noted that the children initially denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and said that their accounts have changed dramatically since they first spoke to the police.He said the medical testimony indicated that there was a "lack of external head injuries" to Anthony.
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