Tulare police arrested and charged three area residents with child torture and attempted homicide on Saturday, July 15. The three defendants were taken into police custody after a representative with Tulare Regional Medical Center reported that a 2-year-old boy was brought there unresponsive and with obvious signs of abuse.
According to the police report in this case, when the child was initially brought to the hospital, he had no heartbeat and wasn’t breathing at the time. As hospital staff attempted to revive the toddler, they began to suspect that his symptoms and the physical trauma he’d endured to his body were all too indicative of the fact that the child had been abused.
Officers were called to the hospital to speak with the three individuals that had brought the boy in. After doing so, they were arrested. The defendants included a 36-year-old male and two sisters, ages 23 and 27. They were each charged with one count each of torture, cruel corporal punishment of a child and attempted homicide.
As officers were arresting the trio, hospital staff busied themselves by attempting to stabilize the young boy. After doing so, they transported him to Valley Children’s Hospital. He was last reported as being gravely ill there.
In talking with the suspects some more, Tulare police investigators were able to determine that the trio also had another child in their custody. When they found him, he too appeared to have suffered bodily injury consistent with abuse. Child Welfare Services took that 3-year-old into custody right away.
Cases involving battery, especially with the aggravated circumstance of involving a child, can carry hefty criminal penalties if they result in a conviction. If you’ve been charged with some type of violent crime, such as child abuse, then you may benefit from discussing a defense with a Visalia, California, criminal defense attorney before your case goes to trial. Even thought the charges you are facing may enrage the public and prosecutors, anyone charged with a crime is considered innocent until — and only if — proven guilty in a court of a law. Everyone is also entitled to present a defense to the charges.
Source: ABC 30, “3 people arrested for attempted homicide and torture of a child in Tulare,” July 19, 2017
