Closing arguments Wednesday in trial of woman accused in stepson’s death

Closing arguments were postponed until Wednesday in the trial of a La Quinta woman accused in the 2003 death of her 2-year-old stepson.

After the defense rested Thursday, a prosecutor’s rebuttal Tuesday, which included jurors hearing about five hours of recorded audio between Patricia Brown, her husband Derrick Brown, and sheriff’s investigators, led Riverside County Superior Court Judge John G. Evans to rule that closing arguments would be delivered Wednesday morning.

The Browns were first charged with murder in 2003, but a judge who presided over a preliminary hearing that October ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed to trial.

A decade later, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the sheriff’s department reexamined the case and submitted new evidence that resulted in the refiling of charges against the Browns. They were re-arrested on Jan. 16, 2013 — 10 years to the day of the boy’s death.

Derrick was initially also on trial, but on July 26, was acquitted following a motion filed by his attorney, leaving the boy’s stepmother as the sole defendant.

Patricia Brown, 51, is charged with murder and assault on a child causing death for the death of Derrick’s son, Deetrick, who was in the couple’s custody for eight months leading up to his death on Jan. 16, 2003.