Antelope Valley Press

No death penalty for couple in Avalos case

The trial in the Anthony Avalos case began, yesterday, for Heather Barron, the boy’s mother and her boyfriend Kareem Ernesto Leiva.

The couple is being charged with one count each of murder and torture in connection with Avalos’s 2018 death.

For the past five years, we have heard about the abuse and torture the boy allegedly suffered at the hands of these two monsters. Every time a news outlet covers the case, the details are brought up again. It’s heartbreaking.

What’s even worse is that the couples’ punishment will not be as severe as one deputy district attorney would like it to be.

Over the objection of Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty against Barron and Leiva.

The bid was dropped after District Attorney George Gascón issued a directive that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case,” according to a CNS report.

Instead, the two could face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as charged. But is it enough?

The two allegedly beat and tortured Avalos, every single day, for two consecutive weeks and despite Barron’s claims that she never hurt the child, she allowed him to lie, brain dead, on the floor of the family’s townhome for at least a day before calling for help.

She then claimed the child had been “acting up” and threw himself on the floor.

It’s a likely story and no one believed it, especially when the evidence showed that Avalos had new and old injuries all over his body. Those type of things don’t happen from throwing oneself on the floor once, in a fit.

Despite what the deputy district attorney deems as a sufficient punishment, his boss won’t allow it and seems to believe that no matter how heinous the crime, criminals should be able to live out their lives in prison.

The only “bright side” to this is, if convicted, Barron and Leiva will never get out of prison. At least Avalos’s family can take solace in that fact, but it seems like they’re getting off easy for a crime perpetrated on an innocent child.

OPINION

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2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://avpress.pressreader.com/article/281715503750237

Alberta Newspaper Group