Child abuse

home, he was "very emotional," was pacing and had his hands on his head, she said.

"He kept saying he didn't know what happened," she testified, adding that his two older daughters "denied any type of neglect or abuse by their father."

In testimony last week, Leiva's daughter, Priscilla, now 18, told the judge that she saw her dad repeatedly dropping Anthony on the floor and that the boy appeared to be dead when she saw him two days later.

During his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Saeed Teymouri told the judge that Barron and Leiva tortured and abused Anthony for two weeks before his death, while an attorney for Leiva countered that his client should be acquitted of murder.

"Anthony Avalos graduated the fourth grade on June 7, 2018, and for two consecutive weeks he was abused and tortured every single day culminating to when the first responders found his lifeless body on June 20th," Teymouri said.

The boy died early the next morning.

Teymouri told the judge that there had been multiple contacts with the county's Department of Children and Family Services dating back to 2014.

"She's been torturing her kids for a long period of time, and once defendant Leiva came into the picture it turned deadly," he said.

The prosecutor said the boy was "already brain dead" and had been lying on the floor in the family's townhouse "for at least a day, possibly more" when Barron called 911 to seek assistance for the boy, and that the two "concocted a story that Anthony Avalos had injured himself."

Leiva subsequently acknowledged that he had the boy kneel on uncooked rice and admitted that he had rendered him unconscious for about five minutes just days earlier, according to the prosecutor.

Leiva's attorney countered that the evidence would demonstrate that there is

"reasonable doubt" involving the murder charge against his client.

Dan Chambers said the two major issues will be "a lack of intent to kill" and the issues of "causation."

The defense lawyer questioned the accounts of the boy's half-siblings, whose testimony he said has changed over time.

Chambers told the judge that many of the statements by the children are "inconsistent," saying that their initial statements "showed a lack of any actions on behalf of Mr. Leiva with respect to the treatment of Anthony" and that "Mr. Leiva's conduct allegedly grew worse" as the children underwent further questioning.

"Those inconsistencies in the evidence will be apparent and once we demonstrate that it will show that what the children claim they say Mr. Leiva doing is inconsistent with the medical evidence," the defense attorney said.

"This case is a case of severe abuse, but as to Mr. Leiva, it is not a murder," the defense lawyer told the judge.

One of Barron's attorneys, Nancy Sperber, opted not to make an opening statement.

Barron and Leiva were charged in June 2018 with the boy's killing and were subsequently indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury in October 2018. They remain jailed without bail.

Last October, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors formally approved a $32 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by the boy's relatives — two of whom testified last week that they notified the county's Department of Children and Family Services about the alleged abuse. 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 DCFS — 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez and 4-year-old Noah Cuatro, both of Palmdale — to allege "systemic failures" in the agency.

S. Mark Taper Foundation awards $100K grant for foster care, adoption programs

Five Acres, a child and family services nonprofit, has received a $100,000 grant from the S. Mark Taper Foundation. The grant will be used to support Five Acres’ foster care and adoption programs in the Los Angeles County foster care system, the largest in the nation.

“The grant was awarded in December 2022 and will directly impact hundreds of children along with foster and adoptive families who open their homes and hearts to infants, children, and teens with exceptional needs,” said Jennifer Berger, Five Acres chief advancement officer.

In addition to placing foster children and providing treatment and support services, Five Acres recruits, trains, helps to certify, and supports new foster and adoptive families. Individuals interested in learning more about fostering and adopting through the foster care system can contact Five Acres at (626) 214-0363.

To learn more about the Five Acres’ programs and services, visit 5acres.org.