LOS ANGELES â Prosecutors will no longer seek the death penalty for the mother of Anthony Avalos and her boyfriend, who are accused of torturing the 10-year-old Lancaster boy for days before his death in 2018, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gasconâs office confirmed Saturday.
A grand jury indicted Heather Maxine Barron, 31, and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 35, in October 2018 on charges that they murdered the boy and abused two other children in the household.
Barron and Leiva are being held without bail. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have said the couple poured hot sauce on Anthonyâs face and mouth, whipped the boy with a looped cord and belt, and held him upside down and dropped him on his head repeatedly. They also alleged that the couple alternately withheld food and force-fed him, slammed him into furniture and the floor, denied access to the bathroom, and enlisted other children in the home to inflict pain.
Prosecutors will no longer seek death penalty in the Anthony Avalos torture case
A memorial for Anthony Avalos at the home of his David and Maria Barron in California City, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2019. The Barrons are the aunt and uncle of Avalos.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Prosecutors will no longer seek the death penalty for the mother of Anthony Avalos and her boyfriend, who are accused of torturing the 10-year-old Lancaster boy for days before his death in 2018, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s office confirmed Saturday.
A grand jury indicted Heather Maxine Barron, 31, and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 35, in October 2018 on charges that they murdered the boy and abused two other children in the household.
It marks the second high-profile case in which the assigned prosecutors have publicly objected to the death penalty being dropped as a potential punishment. Deputy District Attorneys Garrett Dameron that he and fellow prosecutor Geoff Lewin had been ordered to remove the death penalty as punishment consideration in the case of Michael Christopher Mejia, who is awaiting trial on charges stemming from the 2017 killings of Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer and Mejia s own cousin.
Along with the murder charge, Barron and Leiva are facing two counts of child abuse involving two other children in the home. Leiva is also facing an allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on one of the youngsters in circumstances involving domestic violence.
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