Both sides have waived the right to a jury trial, so Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta will hear the case. The maximum penalty for the defendants is life without parole.
tortured and abused her 10-year-old son for two weeks before his deathSuperior Court Judge Sam Ohta was chosen to hear the case after both sides waived their right to a jury trial for Heather Maxine Barron, 33, and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 37, who are charged in Anthony Avalos’ June 2018 death.
The two could now face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as charged. 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.”
She told investigators that the boy said he might be gay and that she responded that she would love him no matter what because he was her “baby.” “This case is a case of severe abuse, but as to Mr. Leiva, it is not a murder,” the defense lawyer told the judge. “She told me no. She needed her benefits,” she said, adding later that Barron didn’t allow her or her husband to see the children again after they reported that the children said they were being abused.
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