BRANDON MORALES - 4 yo (2008) - Santa Ana CA

The boyfriend of a mother of a 4-year-old boy faces 34 years to life in prison after being convicted Monday of assault on a child causing death, a prosecutor said.Alberto Solis Guzman, 29, also was found guilty of child abuse, but was acquitted of second-degree murder, Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin said.
Although jurors found Guzman not guilty of murder, he still faces a life sentence at his Jan. 14 sentencing because he was convicted of the assault causing death charge, Yellin said."Guzman is hopefully going to spend his life in prison, away from children,'' the prosecutor said.Jurors deliberated for a day before coming back with the verdict late Monday.During closing arguments last week, Yellin argued that Guzman and Gabriela Mariana Morales, 27, his live-in girlfriend, beat her 4-year-old son, Brandon Morales, over a period of time until the boy died from massive head injuries in 2008.The boy had bruises on his feet, legs, arms, torso and head when he died on May 30, 2008, in Santa Ana, Yellin said. The adults "had a duty to protect" Brandon Morales, Yellin said, "and both of them failed."Instead of protecting the boy, the two adults beat him, starved him, put him in a cold bathtub, made him sleep on the floor and heaped other forms of abuse on him, Yellin said."What happened to Brandon Morales happened behind closed doors and it happened at the hands of two abusers," Yellin argued. "Brandon's life was a living nightmare ... he was unable to defend himself and he had nowhere to turn."In her final arguments, Deputy Alternate Defender Laura Jose contended that while Guzman was not a perfect stepfather, he did not inflict the injuries that led to the boy's death. She insisted that Guzman was at work when Gabriela Morales struck the blows that resulted in her son's death.Jose said Morales confessed to detectives when she was interrogated and admitted that she hit her son on the day he died and was solely responsible for his death.

"Gabriela Morales killed her son. Alberto Guzman wasn't there when it happened," Jose said. "That tragic act was not a foreseeable, likely, natural and probable consequence of any of Mr. Guzman's conduct."Morales was home with her three children on the day of the tragedy when she called 911 about 4 p.m. to report that Brandon, her youngest child, was semi-conscious.Police and paramedics were sent to the apartment at 1602 N. Ross St. and found the boy in full cardiac arrest, with bruises on his body and trauma to his head.Brandon was declared dead at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. An autopsy determined that he died of brain hemorrhage caused by multiple blunt force traumas to the head.The boy's 9-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister were in the apartment when police arrived but did not have visible injuries.Morales brought her three children from Mexico to live with her and Guzman in Santa Ana about seven months before Brandon's death. Before that, the children were staying with relatives in Mexico.Morales will be tried separately later on similar charges.

A Santa Ana woman and her live-in boyfriend promoted, encouraged and
facilitated each other as they abused the woman's 4-year-old son for
weeks before he died of massive brain injuries in May 2008, an Orange
County prosecutor told a jury Tuesday in his closing arguments of a
murder trial.
Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin said that defendant Gabriela
Mariana Morales, 28, the little boy's mother, showed a conscious
disregard for human life when she personally hit and abused Brandon
Morales over a long period of time in the Santa Ana apartment she shared
with boyfriend Alberto Solis Guzman, 29.
Gabriela Morales also had a duty to protect her youngest son from
frequent and continuous abuse from Guzman, Yellin said. "But she did not
protect him."
"I submit they are both insidious child abusers," Yellin said.
The mother is charged with murder, assault on a child causing death,
and child abuse likely to produce great bodily injury. She faces a
possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
Guzman was tried separately last year and found guilty of child abuse. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in January.
Deputy Public Defender Celia Laureles told the jury in her final
argument Tuesday that while Brandon's death was "horrific and
heartbreaking," her client should not be held legally responsible.
Laureles contended that Guzman is solely responsible for inflicting
the injuries that led to Brandon Morales' death, and that Gabriela
Morales was the victim of spousal abuse inflicted on her by Guzman.
"She was immobilized," Laureles said, by her fear of Guzman, by fear
of losing her children, by fear of being deported. As a result, Laureles
added, Gabriela Morales was hopeless, helpless and powerless.
Witnesses testified that Brandon Morales was abused behind closed
doors inside his own home over a long period of time until May 30, 2008,
when paramedics were summoned to the family apartment on Ross Street by
his mother.
But by then it was too late, Yellin said. The paramedics found the
boy unconscious and in cardiac arrest, with bruises on his feet, legs,
arms and torso, and 12 separate injuries to his head.
Brandon was declared dead at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange a short
time later. His 9-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister were in the
apartment when police arrived but did not have visible injuries on them.
Morales brought her three children from Mexico to live with her and
Guzman in Santa Ana about seven months before Brandon's death. Before
that, the children were staying with relatives in Mexico.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/morales-300856-guzman-brandon.html

SANTA ANA – A Santa Ana woman became teary-eyed Monday when she was
convicted of second-degree murder Monday in a retrial for her role in
the beating death of her 4-year-old son.

A jury of six men and six women deliberated for one day and found
Gabriela Mariana Morales, 30, guilty of assault on a child likely to
produce death and child abuse for the May 30, 2008, killing of her son.

Morales now faces a potential term of 25 years to life in state
prison at her sentencing May 25 by Superior Court Judge William
Froeberg.

Her first trial last year ended with a jury hung, 11-1, in favor of guilty on all counts, triggering the second trial.

Alberto Solis Guzman, Morales' live-in boyfriend, was tried separately last year and convicted
of assault on a child likely to produce death and sentenced to prison
for 25 years to life. He was acquitted of second-degree murder. Guzman's
conviction was affirmed by the 4th District Court of Appeal in a
decision announced Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin argued during trials for both defendants that they were equally responsible
for weeks of abuse that led to the death of Brandon Morales. Yellin
said the two adults promoted, encouraged and facilitated each other in a
continuing pattern of abuse.

Morales was alone with her three children when she called 911 about 4
p.m. May 30, 2008, to report that her youngest son was not breathing,
according to police reports. Santa Ana police and paramedics responded
to the apartment and found the boy with bruises on his feet, legs, arms,
torso and head.

The boy was declared dead at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange a short time later.

An autopsy determined that he died of a brain hemorrhage caused by
multiple blunt-force traumas to the head. Brandon sustained 12 separate
injuries to his head in the weeks before his death, according to the
autopsy.

The boy's 9-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister were in the
apartment when police arrived but did not have visible injuries on them.
The older child testified during Guzman's trial that both adults abused
his little brother, including refusing to feed him, forcing him to
sleep on the floor and leaving him in a bathtub filled with cold water.

Morales brought all three children from Mexico to live with her and
Guzman in Santa Ana about seven months before Brandon's death. Before
that, the children were staying with relatives in Mexico.
http://www.ocregister.com/common/printer/view.php?db=ocregister&id=351777