Ca. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case Involving Boy’s Torture and Murder

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) - The California Supreme Court refused today to review the case of a Lancaster woman and her boyfriend who were convicted of torturing and murdering the woman's 10-year-old son.

Heather Maxine Barron, now 36, and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, now 39, are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for Anthony Avalos' June 21, 2018, death.

In a July 24 ruling, a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal noted the "extremity" of the pair's treatment of Anthony Avalos, "which demonstrated far more violence than that necessary to discipline him for his supposed disobedience, provided substantial evidence to support a finding that they intended to inflict extreme and prolonged pain for some other purpose."   

"... The amount of pain and suffering caused by prolonged dehydration and repeated blunt force trauma to the head would be immediately apparent to anyone,'' Associate Justice Michelle Kim wrote on behalf of the panel, with Acting Presiding Justice Helen Bendix and Associate Justice Gregory Weingart concurring. "The evidence supported the court's finding that appellants' purpose was sadistic."

Barron and Leiva were found guilty in March 2023 in a non-jury trial before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta of first-degree murder and torture.

The judge said the couple "worked together to deprive Anthony access to liquids for a substantial length of time causing severe dehydration,'' and that the "condition of Anthony's body, which shows multiple bruises, cuts, possible burn marks all over his body show the extreme torture caused by the combined treatment of Anthony by both defendants manifesting an intent to kill by each defendant."  

Ohta rejected the defendants' claims that Anthony had been injured after throwing himself to the ground, saying that their statements were intended to ``deceive authorities'' about what had actually happened to the boy.

"Defendant Barron waited to call 911 until Anthony was literally deceased on the afternoon of June 20, 2018. This flagrant lack of care for Anthony's life all points to intent to kill by both defendant Barron and defendant Leiva,'' the judge said in his March 2023 ruling, adding that subsequent statements by Barron and Leiva were part of a coordinated effort to cover up their liability for the boy's death.

Ohta also found true the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture involving Anthony.   

Barron and Leiva were also convicted of two counts of child abuse involving the boy's half-siblings, identified in court as "Destiny O." and ``Rafael O."

The judge said testimony during the trial from the boy's two half- siblings and one of Leiva's daughters -- who said they witnessed Leiva repeatedly dropping Anthony on the bedroom floor -- showed that Barron and Leiva "worked together to abuse Anthony.'' He said the boy died from severe dehydration and blunt force trauma to the head, saying then that "the evidence supports the conclusion both defendants hurt Anthony for pleasure'' and that the 10-year-old boy was ``helpless to protect himself against the wrath of defendants Barron and Leiva."   

The two half-siblings -- who were called during the prosecution's case -- testified during the trial that they had been forced to undergo punishment, including kneeling on uncooked rice, wrestling each other and watching each other be disciplined.

Anthony's half-sister, Destiny, broke down in tears when she was asked to speak first at the sentencing hearing and then spoke briefly before she was overcome again with emotion.

"It has been five long years without my brother, my best friend, my whole world, Anthony Avalos,'' the then-13-year-old girl said. "Anthony was everything to me and my family. Anthony was a ball of sunshine to everyone, and sadly, because of you two monsters, he is not here any more. Anthony did not deserve any of the things that happened to him nor me and Rafael."  

"Kareem, you came into our life and ruined everything,'' she wrote in her statement -- the remainder of which was read in court by Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami. "She did not protect us and took part in the torture. To me, you are both monsters and Heather, you are not my mother nor family ... I have learned to accept that you guys can't hurt me any more. I am finally free from all the torture and abuse. But if I were to have known that this would end with me losing a brother I would do it all over again with just one difference, and that is that it would be me and not Anthony." 

One of Barron's trial attorneys, Nancy Sperber, contended during the trial that her client was a victim of battered woman syndrome, and said Leiva had taken "full and complete responsibility for every act of violence" against Anthony.

"I would submit to the court that Ms. Barron ... she didn't have the power to prevent this. She didn't have the power to say no,'' Sperber told the judge.

She said her client was a victim of a "cycle of abuse" that began with repeated alleged abuse of Barron as a child by her stepfather. Leiva was in charge of discipline in the house and forced the children to fight each other when they were left in his care when Barron wasn't home, according to Sperber.  

Barron's attorney agreed with the prosecutor's assessment that Leiva is "evil."

One of Leiva's trial attorneys, Dan Chambers, said in his closing argument that ``this case is one of extreme, unjustified, out-of-bounds behavior,'' but added that it didn't rise to the level of intent to kill.

He said there was ``reasonable doubt'' on the issues of intent to kill and what actually caused the boy's death.   

He told the judge that the intersection between the testimony of two of Anthony's younger half-siblings and one of Leiva's daughters -- who said they saw Leiva repeatedly dropping Anthony -- and the medical evidence showed ``reasonable doubt on the issue of intent to kill.''

He noted that the children initially denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and said their accounts changed dramatically since they first spoke to the police.

"Sometimes kids are just wrong. It's not a matter of lying,'' he told the judge.

Levia's attorney said the medical testimony indicated that there was a ``lack of external head injuries'' to Anthony.   

Leiva's lawyer added that it was a ``bunch of crap'' to suggest that the alleged abuse started with Leiva, saying some of the ideas for punishments came directly from Barron, whose sister testified that they had been subjected to some of the same type of discipline when they were children. He noted that most of the calls made to a child abuse hotline involved Barron's alleged conduct.

Chambers said the woman hadn't looked at a single photo shown on large courtroom screens and ``doesn't shed a tear'' or even make eye contact with her children when they testified, while his client grew emotional and ``showed some semblance of humanity'' when his own daughter testified.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office had dropped its bid for the death penalty against Barron and Leiva after the election of then-District Attorney George Gascón, who issued a directive that ``a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case.''

After the verdict, David Barron said his nephew will ``never get the justice that he actually deserved because of Gascón,'' saying that the death penalty would have been the closest thing.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $32 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by the boy's relatives. 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 LA County Department of Children and Family Services -- 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez and 4-year-old Noah Cuatro, both of Palmdale -- to allege ``systemic failures'' in the agency.