A UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital nurse testified Monday, Feb. 6, that a Lancaster woman accused of joining her then-boyfriend to physically abuse her 10-year-old son appeared to fake being emotional and was in the waiting room instead of at her child’s bedside when the boy died of his injuries in 2018.
Priscilla Cabunoc told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta that she has seen hundreds of sick or injured children die while she has been on the job and that Heather Maxine Barron, the mother of the late Anthony Avalos, was one of the few who were not present in the hospital room when the child passed away. In the other cases the parents were out of the area or could not be present for legitimate reasons, Cabunoc said.
The nurse testified that Barron earlier spent about 10 minutes with her son before his death, then asked if she could be excused to the waiting room. Barron spoke with a slur and her concerns for her son seemed feigned, according to Cabunoc.
“To me it looked like she was forcing herself to have some type of emotions,” Cabunoc said.
None of Anthony’s relatives were present when he died, although one of his aunts entered his room a short time later, Cabunoc said. Barron did not go back into the room until about an hour and 15 minutes later, according to Cabunoc.
Barron, now 33, and her ex-live-in boyfriend, Kareem Ernesto Leiva, now 37, are each charged with one count of murder and torture involving Anthony’s June 2018 death, along with two counts of child abuse involving two of the boy’s half-siblings, identified in court only as “Destiny O.” and “Rafael O.”
The murder count includes the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Over the objection of Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty against the two after the 2020 election of District Attorney George Gascón, who issued a directive that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case.” Barron and Leiva now face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as charged.
In other testimony, Helen Withers, a forensics services nurse at Antelope Valley Medical Center, told the judge that her facility was the first to which Anthony was brought and that he was obviously malnourished and had bruises all over his body.
“His bones were protruding,” Withers said. “You could count his ribs and they didn’t have a lot of fat.”
Withers, reading from her medical report, said Barron further told her that her son had not eaten well the previous three days. Barron also said that Anthony told her he thought he was gay and she said she loved him regardless, according to Withers.
Barron further said that Anthony fell while playing basketball at school, that he was pushed down while playing basketball, and that he had tumbled on their apartment carpet, according to Withers, who additionally said Anthony was later transferred to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. Dr. Michael Gertz, the AVMC emergency room doctor on duty when Anthony arrived, testified that Anthony had no pulse or cardiac activity, was motionless and that his pupils did not react to anything.
Prior to the former sheriff’s Homicide Investigator Omar Miranda taking the stand, Deputy District Attorney Saeed Teymouri spoke to relatives sitting in the front row of the gallery to warn them that a PowerPoint presentation of Anthony’s autopsy photos would be shown during the testimony of Miranda, who now works in the Special Enforcement Bureau handling tacticial operations. The family members chose to stay and remained poised as the color images, some of them depicting Anthony’s entire body and his injuries, were displayed over a period of about five minutes. Barron and Leiva showed no reaction during the photo display.
Last October, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors formally approved a $32 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by Anthony’s relatives — two of whom testified last week that they notified the county’s Department of Children and Family Services about the alleged abuse. The lawsuit contended that multiple social workers failed to properly respond to reports of abuse of Anthony and his siblings.
The lawsuit cited other high-profile deaths of children who were also being monitored by the DCFS — 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez and 4-year-old Noah Cuatro, both of Palmdale — to allege “systemic failures” in the agency.
Previous related stories:
Mother’s boyfriend admitted disciplining 10-year-old boy
Ex-deputy: Mother on trial for murder said she didn’t hit her children
Witnesses: Boy looked malnourished, mother didn’t seem upset
Siblings of Lancaster woman testify she abused her children
Trial begins for two charged with Lancaster boy’s murder, torture
LA County Supervisor approve $32 million settlement over Lancaster boy’s death
Proposed settlement of lawsuit over Lancaster boy’s death to cost LACo $32 million
Family of slain Lancaster boy settles part of lawsuit against LA County
Judge says she won’t delay start of trial over Lancaster boy’s death
DA drops bid for death sentence in 10-year-old Lancaster boy’s killing
Judge strikes punitive damages claim from lawsuit over Lancaster boy’s death
Family of slain 10-year-old Lancaster boy files multimillion-dollar suit against DCFS
Attorney: Family denied custody of two of slain boy’s half-siblings
Judge unseals grand jury transcript in Anthony Avalos’ death
Mother, boyfriend could now face death penalty in 10-year-old boy’s death
Extensive DCFS involvement, 12 social workers didn’t save Lancaster boy
Slain boy’s family wants criminal investigation of social workers
Reports of abuse ended in 2016 for Anthony Avalos
Review of Antelope Valley child welfare services to follow boy’s death
Homicide detectives investigating suspicious death of 10-year-old Lancaster boy
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Danelda Robbins says
Basically they are getting the death penalty anyways because I don’t see either off then lasting long once they are found guilty. Most who torture their our any child or children are given the death penalty by other prisoners.
And even if out to death by the state the three infections used in a legal injection is far more inexpensive than keeping them in prison for the rest of their lives. That’s if they are found guilty for the moment they are still presumed innocent. I personally think justice would be for them to be out in a room handcuffed with adults maybe there to five of them who were abused and tortured as children themselves and they be allowed to do whatever they want. Let children who have been tortured decide what they deserve
Kay says
“The murder count includes the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Over the objection of Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty against the two after the 2020 election of District Attorney George Gascón, who issued a directive that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case.””
I wonder if Gascón would feel the same if one of his loved ones suffered being tortured and murdered. He is evil.
Tim Scott says
What’s the benefit of making killers out of “we the people”? Life without parole protects society just as effectively as a death sentence. Life without parole costs less dollars to carry out. And most importantly, when you look at a court document that says “State of California vs whoever” you have to take responsibility for being part of “State of California.” For the church going Christians out there, how would you like to be standing before the throne trying to explain how you messed up on the “Thou shalt not kill” part by trying to parse out “I didn’t do that, it was ‘the state'”?
If you want the thrill of killing, get it for yourself. Don’t drag all of us into it so you can claim you aren’t responsible.
East Palmdale's Most Despises Newsom says
With all due respect my friend, the original commandment stated: “Thou shall not murder innocents”. The church “rephrased ” it, lol. The “worst of the worst” convicted killers are not innocent.
The voters passed 2 propositions to keep the death penalty and speed up the process. Instead, your woke commie boy Newsom dictated that it will not be used, voters be damned. That is democracy? Only in Democratic Socialist People’s Republic of Californiastan.
Tim Scott says
Where did you come up with that bit of sophistry? What “church” are you accusing here? Generally speaking, when people say “the church” they are bashing the Catholic church, but near as I can find the word in Hebrew that translates as ‘murder’ was translated into a Greek word that translates as ‘kill’ in the Septaugint, which predates Christ by centuries so most assuredly this ‘rephrasing’ wasn’t done by “the church” in the sense it is normally used.
So, we come up against a difference between ‘murder’ and ‘kill’ as viewed from third century BC Alexandria. I am no authority on ancient Egyptian law so I can’t really speak to that…but I can say that I doubt that you have any expertise either and I suspect you just latched onto some argument that ‘sounded good’ without doing any due diligence on whether it was accurate.
Kay says
The murder count includes the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Over the objection of Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty against the two after the 2020 election of District Attorney George Gascón, who issued a directive that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case.”
I wonder if Gascón would feel the same if one of his loved ones suffered being tortured and murdered. He is evil.
Arthur Castillo says
Oh knock it off. Quit blaming Gascon. I agree with him 113%. The old way of doing things didn’t work at all and just costed the tax payers more money to keep prisons open and running. Not to mention all the police that sat around doing nothing but getting paid overtime for it ! I for one witnessed it first hand and also heard it from their own mouths how easy it was to get paid double and triple for overtime while they did nothing but sit around and even fornicate with the female officers that were also on duty. So yes this is a tragic story and incident. But it’s not Gascon’s fault.
ACE says
NO HE DOESN’T…
***
ACE says
WHO COULD BLAME THE OVER WORKED AND UNDER PAID DCFS SOCIAL WORKERS..?
WITH SUCH LOVELY COUPLES AND OBVIOUSLY GOOD PEOPLE LIKE THESE..?
FALSELY ACCUSED…
THEY DON’T LOOK LIKE FILTHY, SCUM CHILD KILLERS AT ALL…
DO THEY..?
JUST A COUPLE OF NORMAL NICE PARENTS DOING THE BEST THEY CAN…
WITH SUCH UGLY LITTLE MONSTER KIDS THAT SO RICHLY DESERVED BEING PUNISHED FOR WHATEVER THEY DID THAT WAS WRONG AND UPSET THESE NORMAL AND LOVING PARENTS…
TO EXECUTE THESE KILLERS WON’T BRING BACK THE POOR LITTLE TORTURED TO DEATH CHILDREN…
THEY DIDN’T USE A GUN AFTER ALL…
MAYBE SOME PROBATION AND SOME COUNSELING WOULD BE BEST…
AND AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN EDUCATED AND REHABILITATED…
THEY COULD BECOME SYCAMORE-HATHAWAY PAID FOSTER PARENTS FOR LA COUNTY…
SIGH…
***
Tim Scott says
LOL…no, I don’t. Your compulsion to post random nonsense and attribute it to me is pretty weird.