GUILTY NM - Anthony Apodaca & Jennifer Stephenson for child endangerment, Santa Fe, 2010

[AutomaticAuttie]

If they are having to remove dead tissue from this poor childs legs that tells me that he has had something wrapped around them for quite sometime. Tissue does not just die from an accident such as this momster has stated, it just doesnt happen. I hope to hell they give both of them the max sentence available..this is just horrible, poor baby I hope his little legs make it.

Why won't tissue die from being crushed?

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

I haven’t completely finalized my thoughts on this case. There are some unanswered questions I have. These may have been answered already and I may have simply over looked it. Do these parents have any pervious complaints or charges filed against them with regards to child abuse or neglect? Did the incident that the parents say happen right before they took him to the hospital or did it happen days before? What was the time frame? My thoughts so far are this….either this boy’s parents abused and tortured this child by tying his legs together. Or they are telling the truth and the dresser did fall over pinning him between the dresser and bed. If they waited to take him to the hospital after the incident and allowed his injuries to progress, then they should be charged with child neglect at the very least. This is JMHO

 

[kbl8201]

kbl--Have you considered getting a degree in social work? I admire your passion. The workers I know who hang in there for the long haul are a lot like you. They're a bit on the "rogue" side--willing to go to the matt for a kid. And don't tell me that you'd punch some parent's lights out. You'd want to, I know.

I happen to think you'd be a heck of an advocate for kids.

thanks for the kinds words ms izzy
i should go into something like that or law, i knokw i rip the courts and cps and parole and everything and my bark is probably bigger then my bite........but i really do care, and im sick of seeing all the injustices we read about here.

 

[jjenny]

I haven’t completely finalized my thoughts on this case. There are some unanswered questions I have. These may have been answered already and I may have simply over looked it. Do these parents have any pervious complaints or charges filed against them with regards to child abuse or neglect? Did the incident that the parents say happen right before they took him to the hospital or did it happen days before? What was the time frame? My thoughts so far are this….either this boy’s parents abused and tortured this child by tying his legs together. Or they are telling the truth and the dresser did fall over pinning him between the dresser and bed. If they waited to take him to the hospital after the incident and allowed his injuries to progress, then they should be charged with child neglect at the very least. This is JMHO

There is a link provided on this thread to an article that says he has been charged with child abuse in Nov (regarding a different child) but those charges were later dropped.

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

There is a link provided on this thread to an article that says he has been charged with child abuse in Nov (regarding a different child) but those charges were later dropped.

Thanks, that changes things for me!

 

[believe09]

I haven’t completely finalized my thoughts on this case. There are some unanswered questions I have. These may have been answered already and I may have simply over looked it. Do these parents have any pervious complaints or charges filed against them with regards to child abuse or neglect? Did the incident that the parents say happen right before they took him to the hospital or did it happen days before? What was the time frame? My thoughts so far are this….either this boy’s parents abused and tortured this child by tying his legs together. Or they are telling the truth and the dresser did fall over pinning him between the dresser and bed. If they waited to take him to the hospital after the incident and allowed his injuries to progress, then they should be charged with child neglect at the very least. This is JMHO

Yes there were previous complaints of abuse. 3 IIRC from the media on the case. Tissue doesnt die unless the blood supply is cut off to it for a while. Especially a childs-their bones are green, their body fat percentage (should be) is high...so ligature restraint makes far more sense. Unless they left the baby pinned for a long period of time....

 

[Texas Mist]

Yes there were previous complaints of abuse. 3 IIRC from the media on the case. Tissue doesnt die unless the blood supply is cut off to it for a while. Especially a childs-their bones are green, their body fat percentage (should be) is high...so ligature restraint makes far more sense. Unless they left the baby pinned for a long period of time....

Not to mention LE "determined that the pattern of the boy's injuries didn't match the bed rail".

IMO, the "parents" are sadistic monsters.

 

[mysticrose]

Why won't tissue die from being crushed?

Tissue will start to die when blood flow has been restricted to the area, and it would have to be quite a while without blood flow, so unless they just left the child for hours and I mean 24 hours pinned under the dresser this is just not feasible I'll see if I can find an aricle on this ...
of course moo

 

[LogicalMinds]

Good Lord....this is just so sick

but I am NOT surprised to see that the state workers were right in there, called in various times yet let this poor baby remain with these monster parents

I have said it before and I will say it again...in MOST of the "cases" of children on this site, the fact is that the families were "known" to the various state's social services agencies...

over and over and over and over....these lax social workers need to be held accountable
we need an overhaul of state agencies..and maybe some federal guidelines

as sick as people are, this idea of "preserve the family" is not working JMO

 

[mikeysmommom]

Good Lord....this is just so sick

but I am NOT surprised to see that the state workers were right in there, called in various times yet let this poor baby remain with these monster parents

I have said it before and I will say it again...in MOST of the "cases" of children on this site, the fact is that the families were "known" to the various state's social services agencies...

over and over and over and over....these lax social workers need to be held accountable
we need an overhaul of state agencies..and maybe some federal guidelines

as sick as people are, this idea of "preserve the family" is not working JMO

Excellent Post and so very sad but it is the truth.Social workers need to be held accountable for the lax work they do.

 

[Rayemonde]

January 2011:

Stephenson and her boyfriend Anthony Apodaca were each originally charged with one count of child abuse after the January 2010 incident. Depending on the circumstances, child abuse can range from a first degree felony to a misdemeanor; Apodaca pleaded guilty to a third degree felony. He has not been sentenced yet, and must testify in the Stephenson trial under the terms of his plea agreement. Apodaca did not reside at Stephenson's home...

As SFR previously reported, CYFD and the Santa Fe Police Department investigated Stephenson a few months before the boy's injuries came to light, when Stephenson's infant daughter nearly drowned in the bathtub...

Stephenson has remained out of custody pending trial under "intense supervision," Vigil tells SFR.

http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/mobile/blogs/blogView/id:2645

 

[Rayemonde]

February 2011:

The ligature theory arose partly because the victim had some marks on the back on his legs. It now appears that the marks were caused by the victim's legs being pinned between the dresser and a rounded metal safety rail on his bed, which was brought into the courtroom.

Alleged crime now negligent, not intentional
The state is not making the case that Stephenson deliberately pinned her son under a dresser. Their argument is that after it apparently fell on him she ignored his cries for up to 12 hours, and possibly checked on him at one point when he may have already been pinned. They are also arguing Stephenson showed negligence by stopping at her parents' house on the way to the emergency room.

http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/mobile/blogs/blogView/id:2657

 

[Rayemonde]

Feb 2011:

First District Court Judge instructed counsel in the child abuse case against Jennifer Stephenson not to mention "the rope" until he rules on whether it is admissible.

Prosecutor Dori Smith would not confirm whether a rope was found at the scene. A large chest of drawers tagged as evidence was seen in the courtroom Tuesday morning.

http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/mobile/blogs/blogView/id:2655

:thinking:

 

[Rayemonde]

Feb 2011:

A few feet from her chair in the courtroom sat a beaten-up wooden chest of drawers — a piece of furniture intended to back up her story that her son was injured after he overturned the clothes dresser and remained pinned beneath it for several hours at the family's Vista Linda Apartment, 6332 Entrada de Milagro in Santa Fe.

Although police said investigators and doctors believe the injuries suffered by the child were a result of being tied up with a ligature for an extended period of time, prosecutors are no longer making that case in court...

Defense attorney West argued in her opening statement, however, that emergency-room staff and police were puzzled by injuries the child sustained and rather than conduct appropriate questioning and investigation, they concocted a theory that is not borne out by the evidence.

"It was a freak accident," West said. "Instead of believing the story they were given, which was a true story, they let their imaginations work."...

Since the incident, [the boy] and his infant sister have been in foster care, West said. Although [the boy] required several surgical procedures, including removal of damaged tissue on his calves, he is walking well, she said.

http://m.santafenewmexican.com/news...8d3-2615-51ed-9b8e-b7b2f32d682a.html?mode=jqm

Oh, he didn't lose his legs! I'm so glad sounds like the prosecution still suspect his legs were tied up but they can't prove it so they're going with the dresser theory? They have got the husband to testify against Stephenson, but his story is that the dresser fell on the boy. Stephenson says she was asleep when it happened.

 

[Rayemonde]

Feb 2011:

The 27-year-old father testified Monday in state District Court that he ran into Isaiah's room to find his son's legs pinned between a large wooden dresser and an unforgiving metal railing on the small white bed where the boy slept.

"He kept telling me, 'Hurt. Hurt,' " the soft-spoken Apodaca told jurors Monday during the trial of his girlfriend, Jennifer Stephenson — the boy's mother — on a charge of first-degree child abuse resulting in great bodily injury....

What Apodaca never saw, according to his day-long testimony, were ropes, strings or any other type of ligature that may have been used to tie the boy to the bed. That differs from how police initially described the case beginning in January 2010, when both Apodaca and Stephenson were first jailed on first-degree child abuse charges...

Apodaca acknowledged Monday that he initially figured the dresser accidentally fell on Isaiah, but then changed his account when police told him that wasn't possible when they questioned him a year ago.
"So police told you over and over someone would have had to do this to Isaiah?" West asked in cross examination.
"Yes ma'am," Apodaca replied.

Apodaca, who spent six months in jail after his arrest early last year on the child-abuse charge, also said he believes the dresser was either pushed onto his son by a longtime personal enemy from elementary school who was trying to date Stephenson at the time — that man has never been named as a suspect in the case — or by a ghost.

It also emerged during cross examination that police, according to West, had suggested to Apodaca that his son had been "tethered."

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_48c3b7bc-27a2-5ea7-afab-6091e266196a.html

Medical experts called by both the state and the defense over the past two and a half weeks generally estimated the length of time the dresser was on the boy at six to 12 hours before his father found him around 7 a.m...

The prosecutors were handed the case about two weeks before the Jan. 31 start of the trial, when former prosecutor Jennifer Padgett accepted a job as legal counsel for Gov. Susana Martinez...

The jury will have the option of convicting Stephenson on a charge of child abandonment resulting in great bodily harm, a second-degree felony that carries a potential sentence of up to nine years in prison.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_ca67a81d-13f2-5204-8ce8-42a1fc7a9782.html

A state district judge on Friday said he gave serious consideration to tossing a child-abuse case out against after state prosecutors rested their case against a 21-year-old mother who faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted...

Vigil said in open court, although not with the jury present, that he "has serious doubts" about the state's ability to garner a conviction in the case and noted prosecutors have seemed to pursue three different theories since the case was first brought before the judge for arraignment a year ago...

In order for prosecutors to gain a conviction, according to New Mexico Criminal Code, the state will have to prove Stephenson "acted with reckless disregard" and that she "should have known" her actions, or inaction, "created a substantial and foreseeable risk."

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_345de4f1-38f9-5a39-ad8f-c368f9ea8679.html

A judge on Friday said repeatedly that Jennifer Stephenson and Anthony Apodaca are "low functioning human beings" and have "no business being parents."

But state District Judge Michael Vigil didn't see any reason to send either to prison for their felony convictions stemming from a January 2010 incident involving their 2-year-old son, Isaiah. Prosecutors presented evidence that a 112-pound dresser fell on the boy, pinning his legs against a metal bed frame for anywhere from six to 12 hours.

"What happened to Isaiah was horrific," Vigil said. "What I can't understand is why these two parents were not capable of checking on him at several times throughout the evening....

The following morning, around 7 a.m., Apodaca said he heard whimpering coming from Isaiah's bedroom. He had to unlock the boy's bedroom door before finding the dresser on his son. Apodaca said Stephenson sometimes locked the door because Isaiah refused to stay in his bedroom at night.
Stephenson, who said she is still trying to get full custody of her children, may have an uphill climb in that regard, as Vigil is also the judge overseeing the CYFD reunification case in the Children's Court Division.
As a veteran children's-court judge, Vigil said he sees horrifying cases of abuse and neglect far too often, and while there is no evidence Stephenson or Apodaca physically abused their children, their low-functioning mind-sets and drug abuse clearly left their children unsafe in their care.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_240e4d26-40cf-543d-a2df-43141d190d92.html

She got 5 years probation! And she will be referred to a treatment program for marijuana and crack cocaine use.

 

[Rayemonde]

Opinion piece by the grandmother, March 2011:

The true horror was faced primarily by our precious [child], torn from a loving family in a time of crisis at a very critical developmental stage, by a system that was reactive, biased and entirely unobjective — from the doctors at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, who generated a reckless and unfounded accusation, to the police detective who failed to do even a minimal investigation into the validity of the claim, to the newspapers and television stations who also failed to check their facts, and finally to Children, Youth and Families Department, which chose to vilify a loving and supportive family rather than allow us to support our beloved child in a time of great need.

Two-year-old, severely injured <snip> spent the first two weeks of surgery and probably very painful medical procedures, entirely alone as the result of this accusation. He spent the following months in the hospital in Albuquerque with minimal family contact, in the care of strangers. We know that he will recover from his physical injuries, but cannot tell how or when the emotional scars will ever heal.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/op...cle_29dad8cc-dfa4-5e54-b3c3-9f3bf2ec5140.html

 

[Rayemonde]

November 2014:

An appellate court ruling says it&#8217;s not a crime under New Mexico&#8217;s child abandonment law to put a 2-year-old child to bed in a locked bedroom and ignore the child&#8217;s cries during the night. The state Court of Appeals overturned Jennifer Stephenson&#8217;s child abandonment conviction in a Santa Fe County case

http://albuquerque.suntimes.com/albq-news/7/143/27079/womans-child-abandonment-conviction-overturned

 

[Rayemonde]

July 2015:

Jennifer Stephenson was convicted of child abandonment in 2011, but after looking at the evidence, the court said prosecutors failed to prove she locked the boy in the room with the intent of never coming back. This is a key part of a child abandonment charge.

http://krqe.com/2015/07/08/santa-fe-woman-accused-of-child-abandonment-walks-away-from-charges/

 

[Rayemonde]

Appeal, July 2014:

she argues that her conduct in putting her two-year-old son (Child) to bed in his bedroom and ignoring his cries during the night does not constitute &#8220;leaving&#8221; or &#8220;abandoning&#8221; Child under Section 30&#8211;6&#8211;1(B). We agree and reverse Defendant's conviction...


The orthopedic surgeon who treated Child testified that he thought Child was trapped for at least &#8220;eight to twelve hours&#8221; and that &#8220;this type of injury usually takes [twelve] to [twenty-four] hours to develop.&#8221; The pediatric intensive care doctor who treated Child testified that she thought Child was trapped for &#8220;a minimum of six to twelve hours.&#8221; All of these doctors agreed that Child would have been in extreme pain and that he would have been &#8220;crying&#8221; and &#8220;screaming.&#8221; And a pediatric psychologist testified that a child's cry from being &#8220;hurt&#8221; is different than his cry from being &#8220;tired&#8221; or &#8220;uncomfortable&#8221; and that &#8220;every mommy knows that.&#8221;

- See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/nm-court-of-appeals/1684292.html#sthash.CaEspLcx.dpuf