{"id":49118,"date":"2014-02-19T22:47:19","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T06:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=49118"},"modified":"2014-02-20T00:25:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T08:25:41","slug":"man-accused-of-killing-girlfriends-baby-to-stand-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/02\/19\/man-accused-of-killing-girlfriends-baby-to-stand-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Man accused of killing girlfriend\u2019s baby to stand trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A superior court judge Wednesday found sufficient evidence for Matthew Worthen to stand trial for the beating death of 2-year-old Zanai Noel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 Two-year-old Zanai Noel<\/strong> received forceful blows to her back and side, and she died shortly thereafter from multiple internal injuries, including five broken and displaced ribs, a collapsed lung, a shredded liver and internal bleeding, Dr. Louis Pena testified Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The medical examiner\u2019s testimony came at the preliminary court hearing for Matthew Worthen<\/strong>, the 24-year-old man accused of beating to death his girlfriend\u2019s baby.<\/p>\n

Worthen is charged with murder in connection with an incident that occurred Sept. 22, 2013 at his girlfriend\u2019s Palmdale apartment, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Ayisha Noel testified that she left her daughter alone with Worthen for less than 15 minutes that night, while she went to the liquor store to purchase more Hennessy.<\/p>\n

Worthen was coming out of her baby\u2019s room when she returned from the store, Noel testified, and minutes later, Zanai was groaning and gasping for air.<\/p>\n

The two then took Zanai to Palmdale Regional Medical Center, Noel testified.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was blue when she came in,\u201d said the emergency room doctor, Romik Zadorian.<\/p>\n

Zanai was pronounced dead after 45 minutes of CPR failed to revive her, according to Dr. Zadorian\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

Worthen\u2019s private defense lawyer, Dakar Diourbel, argued that Zanai\u2019s injuries could have been inflicted at day care.<\/p>\n

Three days before her death, Zanai came home from day care with welt marks, according to her mother\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

Noel testified that she had confronted day care workers about her child\u2019s injuries, and she was told that the person responsible would be fired. Asked why she did not report the incident to police, Noel said, \u201cbecause I figured the person that did that would be handled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verleana Huey, whose brother co-owns the day care, testified that she did not witness any physical abuse of Zanai while the child was at the day care.<\/p>\n

However, Huey said she witnessed a troubling incident last summer, when Worthen dropped Zanai to day care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the baby screaming and crying before I\u2019d even opened the door,\u201d Huey testified. She said Zanai wouldn\u2019t stop crying, even after Worthen left.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018Zanai, who hurt you?\u2019 and she said \u2018Matthew,\u2019\u201d Huey testified.<\/p>\n

Worthen was also accused that summer of hurting Zanai\u2019s mother. He was arrested for domestic violence in July 2013, and Noel had filed a restraining order against him, homicide detectives said previously.<\/p>\n

Noel testified Wednesday that Worthen had moved out of her apartment about two months prior to Zanai\u2019s death. But on September 22, she invited Worthen over because she was still trying to maintain a relationship with him, Noel testified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ashamed that I was still with Matthew,\u201d Noel said, when asked why she did not tell her family the two were still together.<\/p>\n

There is ample evidence of Zanai\u2019s fatal injuries, but no proof that Worthen was the one that caused them, Diourbel said, in arguing a motion to dismiss the charges.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Christopher Estes denied the motion, and Worthen was held to answer on one count each of murder and assault on a child causing death. If convicted as charged, Worthen faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison.\u00a0 Worthen is due back in an Antelope Valley courtroom March 5 for a second arraignment.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/em><\/p>\n

Man pleads not guilty to killing girlfriend\u2019s baby<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Palmdale toddler beaten to death, mom\u2019s boyfriend charged with murder<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Two-year-old Zanai Noel received forceful blows to her back and side, and she died shortly thereafter from multiple internal injuries, including five broken and displaced ribs, a collapsed lung, a shredded liver and internal bleeding, Dr. Louis Pena testified Wednesday. The medical examiner\u2019s testimony came at the preliminary court hearing for Matthew Worthen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}