Day 2: Witnesses testify to abuse

By Andy Gates - Argus Observer
Wednesday, June 20, 2007 11:43 AM PDT

VALE - Prosecutors called 14 witnesses to the stand Tuesday to testify about incidents of injury or abuse to a 3-year-old boy who died last year, during the second day of his stepmother’s murder trial in Malheur County Circuit Court.

The stepmother, Marisol Sedano-Ruiz, 20, is charged with murder and two counts of criminal mistreatment in the June 27, 2006, death of her stepson, Roberto Lee Ruiz.

The state claims Sedano-Ruiz caused the child’s death through abuse. Prosecutors also assert the young stepmother engaged in a pattern of assaulting the boy.

Sedano-Ruiz, however, pleaded not guilty to the serious charges. She passed up her right to a jury trial, and Malheur County Circuit Court Judge J. Burdette Pratt will rule on the case, which is scheduled to last two weeks.

Defense attorneys claim there are other explanations for the child’s death than what the prosecution asserts.

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Some other explanations for the death that have been proposed include a fall from a counter and/or a fall from an ATV.

Injuries, like bruises, abrasions and lacerations, both new and old, covered the boy’s body at the time of his death. A fatal and fresh injury was found on the back of his head, Oregon State Medical Examiner Dr. Karen Gunson testified Monday.

The boy died from battered child syndrome, terminal blunt force trauma, the medical examiner said.

Sedano-Ruiz and her husband, Roberto Marin Ruiz, 27, a dairy worker and Mexican national, transported the child from the Willow Creek area to Holy Rosary Medical Center June 27, 2006, where he was pronounced dead.

Ruiz pleaded guilty in October to first degree criminal mistreatment against his son. He told police the boy fell from an ATV, and he said in a recorded interview played Monday his wife told him the child fell from the counter.

“Every bruise I see, she came out with an explanation,” Ruiz said in a recorded interview played Monday by prosecutors.

Some of Ruiz’s family members testified Tuesday they had seen bruises on the boy when he was alive. Sedano-Ruiz, some of the family members said, provided explanations for the child’s injuries.

The child’s cousin and Ruiz’s niece, Jennifer Ruiz-Garcia, shifted her small body Tuesday in the court’s large, leather witness chair. She was 11 years old when her cousin died and was questioned the day after the death during a videotaped interview played Tuesday in court.

“One time he had a black eye. She (Sedano-Ruiz) said he hit his head where water comes out,” Ruiz-Garcia said in the interview, referring to the water faucet.

Ruiz-Garcia said her cousin had been left in the bathroom to drink toilet water, and he was often hit and underfed.

The child was not potty-trained, and he was hit when he had accidents, Ruiz-Garcia said in the video.

“She would just leave him in the bathroom ... for a long time,” so the child would learn to use the bathroom, Ruiz-Garcia said in the video.

The child was a slow talker and was often bruised, his cousin said.

“She (Sedano-Ruiz) would say he fell,” Ruiz-Garcia said.

Ruiz-Garcia stayed at the Ruiz home and helped watch their four children. The Ruiz brood included: Roberto Lee, Ruiz’s daughter, Sedano-Ruiz’s daughter and the couple’s infant son.

“I had fun with the kids,” Ruiz-Garcia said.

Through a Spanish-speaking interpreter, Ruiz-Garcia’s mother, who is Sedano-Ruiz’s sister-in-law and the boy’s godmother, Naomi Garcia, testified Tuesday she saw bruises on the boy that did not seem normal.

“He always ate like he was anxious or desperate. He drank as if he was very thirsty,” Garcia said.

“He had way too many bruises, and he looked malnourished,” Garcia said.

Sedano-Ruiz’s lawyer, Manual Perez, said Monday the 3-year-old had a “voracious appetite.”

However, the medical examiner testified Monday the boy was underweight for his size.

A man who saw Sedano-Ruiz once with Ruiz and their children at the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles in Ontario testified that he saw Sedano-Ruiz aggressively handle her children.

“When any of the kids would lean over or down, she would push them and push them back hard,” Limhi Iglesias said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. “For me, I thought it was a little bit hard.”

More than one witness Tuesday testified they saw Sedano-Ruiz grab Roberto Lee’s chin. The boy’s grandmother, Reyna Ruiz, testified Tuesday through a Spanish-speaking translator the boy seemed malnourished and he had bruises on his chin. However, Reyna Ruiz said she thought he could have fallen.

“Well given that we’re not used to that, I thought maybe he did fall,” Reyna Ruiz said.

Roberto Ruiz’s brother, Ricardo Ruiz, testified Tuesday Ruiz and his two biological children stayed with him for two nights. He testified he did not see bruises on the boy.

Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris read sections of a police report where Ricardo Ruiz allegedly told investigators his brother temporarily left Sedano-Ruiz because she hit the 3-year-old.

Roberto Ruiz’s brother-in-law, Francisco Avalos, said he briefly worked with Ruiz at a local dairy but did not return to work because of the way the 3-year-old was treated by Sedano-Ruiz during a lunch break.

He said the child asked for food, and Sedano-Ruiz slapped him and sent him to his room.

One of Ruiz’s family members testified Tuesday she called child welfare authorities the day before Roberto Lee died. Other witnesses testified Tuesday Sedano-Ruiz threatened Ruiz, who is an illegal alien, by saying she could turn him into immigration authorities.

The state plans to call additional witnesses to the stand, including Ruiz, about five law enforcement officers, a couple of neighbors and Ruiz’s young daughter. Expert witnesses for the defense are slated to begin their testimonies Monday, Perez said.