Couple to Face Murder Trial in Toddler's Death

Karen Ocamb

After four days of testimony and contentious cross-examination in the preliminary hearing of an Alhambra couple charged with murdering their 2-year-old foster child, the decision by the judge seemed almost anti-climactic. In a soft voice, Alhambra Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench said there was sufficient evidence of guilt for Frances and Armando Abundis Sr. to stand trial in the Oct. 11 death of Sarah Chavez. The couple had been the child's foster parents "on and off" since Sarah was 9 months old.

"Justice was never done for Sarah in her life, so we hope that some measure of it will at least come in death," Sarah's former foster parent Corri Planck told IN Los Angeles magazine. "It is our hope that, in addition to the criminal trial, there will continue to be a focus on the legal, medical, and social services institutions that should have protected her, but failed to do so. All these breakdowns allowed her to be returned to what was clearly an unsafe home." Planck and her partner Dianne Hardy-Garcia had custody of Sarah, whom they had hoped to adopt, from January to April when she was abruptly removed and returned to her maternal aunt and uncle.

Child abuse leading to death is at the heart of Deputy District Attorney Franco A. Baratta's case against the Abundises. According to testimony by Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. David Whiteman, who conducted the autopsy on the 2-year-old, the "manner of death was homicide at the hands of another person. The cause was multiple traumatic injuries. There were a number of external bruises on the skin, on the legs, and evidence of a healing of the right humorus and one joint of her left fourth finger. And there was injury to her abdomen É a portion of her small intestine had been completely severed."

Other evidence of blunt force trauma to the abdomen area, Whiteman said, included "retroperitoneal hemorrhaging; and hemorrhaging around the pancreas or injury to the pancreas, hemorrhaging around both kidneys and both adrenal glands, hemorrhaging to the liver, some lacerations to the liver, lacerations to the diaphragm, and torn ligaments."

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Alex Kessel, representing Frances Abundis, Whiteman said the "most principle cause of death" was "sepsis from peritonitis," or infection caused by toxins leaking from the severed small intestine into the rest of the abdomen that "causes the body to go into shock and die." Hemorrhage from the internal organs, pain from the damage and dehydration also lead to shock, Whiteman said. "The infection can cause fever. But she could be so much in shock, she may not have the energy to have a fever." Additionally, the pain could be so severe, "deep breaths may aggravate the pain so the child may not cry."

Kessel speculated that Sarah jumping from a bunk bed directly onto a bedpost or protruding toy could have caused the abdomen injuries. "I don't think her own weight onto a bed post would cause the number of blows [to the stomach]," Whiteman said. It would take an "upper punch to get to the liver" and there were "multiple blows."

"How about a child with a baseball bat?" Kessel asked. The Abundises have a 5-year-old son. "No," Whiteman replied. "An adult has more upper arm strength." Whiteman also noted that he did not think there was any sexual abuse.

But Whiteman conceded that he could not establish when the fatal blows were administered. They could have occurred anywhere from two hours to 48 hours before death, he said. And while he would expect a doctor to notice the injuries, "it may be difficult to diagnose."

It was a point Kessel stressed repeatedly, noting that Garfield Medical Center personnel failed to notice the injuries when Sarah was brought in with a broken arm the night of Oct. 10. If the "objective symptoms" could go "undisclosed to professionals," how could an "untrained person like a mother" be expected to notice them?

In cross examination of Detective James Hammond, Kessel noted the existence of a hospital videotape that showed Sarah walking to a water fountain and back to Frances and her mother, Sophia Chavez. Later the tape showed a guard wiping up something from the floor, which Kessel speculated was vomit.

Frances told the detectives that she arrived at the hospital around 9 p.m. But Elodia Estrella, a sobradora or neighborhood masseuse, testified that she saw Sarah "when it was still light out." Estrella said that when she manipulated the arm, it "creaked" loudly while Sarah stared blankly and didn't cry. She said Frances brought Sarah for help because she was afraid of having her child taken away, but Estrella told Frances she had to take the child to the hospital.

Armando's mother, Catalina Chavez Torres, testified that Frances spent four hours with her, without Sarah, during an appointment with a bankruptcy attorney in downtown L.A. She said Frances never mentioned Sarah's broken arm. But Detective Sigfredo Villegas testified that Torres told him that the two did discuss the arm. His tape recording of the phone interview with Torres, however, failed to record the grandmother's voice. On cross-examination, Kessel accused Villegas of lying.

Several witnesses testified that throughout the ordeal at the hospital, including an X-ray of the elbow, Frances seemed "concerned" about Sarah and was "cooperative," until nurses failed to find a good blood vein on the child and Frances called a halt to the tests. Frances told investigators she left Garfield around 1 a.m. after Sarah became tired, fidgety, started crying, and wanted to go home. Villegas testified that Dr. Delores De Cruz set the arm in a splint, suggested they stay to see a specialist in the morning, but then released Sarah "against medical advice."

There was conflicting testimony as to how many times and the circumstances under which the Abundises attended to Sarah throughout the night. Somewhere between 6:30 and 7 a.m. Frances failed to awaken Sarah. After 911 was called, Frances apparently attempted CPR, which Kessel also hinted may have caused some of the internal injuries.

When he responded to the child-in-distress call, Alhambra Police Officer Garrett Kennedy said he found Armando standing at the stairwell "not really displaying any emotion at all. He said, 'She's in here.' His demeanor was calm as if there was not a serious incident." Frances, Kennedy said, "appeared to be frantic and upset."

Kennedy said he asked Frances about the injury to Sarah's arm and "she stated that the child fell in the room" around 8 p.m. on Oct. 10. "She did not observe the child falling. Her arm was hanging as if it was dislocated" but Sarah displayed "no emotion." During other interviews with police, Frances said that she "didn't know what happened" and "everyone saw her fall and break her arm."

Curiously, detectives did not ask Garfield medical personnel if they suspected child abuse. Nor did the prosecution have a copy of the Department of Health Services investigation into the matter. As IN reported in our last issue, the triage nurse stated that Sarah "cried out in pain" when her sweater was removed, though the nurse failed to assess Sarah's level of pain. She told the state investigator that "the child was staring at me in a way that had bothered me a lot," yet she "did nothing about it." And though Frances said Sarah's arm was dislocated, the nurse said it was "obvious to her the arm was broken." She failed, however, to question Frances further.

At the hearing, the medical staff took the Fifth, fearing legal action because, their attorney said, they are mandated by law to report suspected child abuse. It's a point that irked Kessel and Rob Hedding, Armando's attorney, because it deprived their clients of the right to elicit testimony from key witnesses. Referring to notes, Kessel said that both De Cruz and registered nurse Angela Chung concluded from the X-ray that the broken arm was not child-abuse related. Chung, Kessel said, concluded that the fracture "was consistent with accidental injury." And, Kessel argued, De Cruz signed the "against medical advice" form for insurance reasons, "covering all her bases."

In closing, both Kessel and Hedding argued that while Sarah's injuries were horrible, the prosecution offered no evidence to indicate when or if a crime had been committed or that either of their clients had committed it. Hedding scoffed at guilt being associated with Armando's demeanor. "We're going down a horrible path when a police officer can say, 'He had murder in his eyes,'" Hedding said.

Baratta argued that, for the purposes of the hearing, he need only show "rational inferences" of guilt: Frances and Armando say they were the only ones with access to or control over Sarah during the fateful two days before her death; Whiteman concluded that the deadly blow was not accidental; and Frances' changing stories and Armando's lack of emotion were incriminating.

Judge Lench agreed with the defense attorneys that the prosecution did not prove the broken arm was not accidental and dismissed one count of child abuse. But the other counts of assault, murder, and child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury or death remain. They are being held on bail of $2 million each. Their arraignment is on Dec. 21 in Pasadena Superior Court.

"Sarah remains constantly in our thoughts," Planck said. "She would have been 3 years old on Monday (Dec. 5). If anyone had done their job to protect Sarah, we would have been dealing this week with her birthday party, rather than a murder trial."