Man charged after 5-year-old buried alive on beach

[SoUncool]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/16819621/detail.html

No pics or other info yet.

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- A Santa Maria man has been arrested for allegedly burying a 5-year-old boy alive at the beach, resulting in the child's death.

San Luis Obispo County sheriff's Sgt. Sandy Leber says 24-year-old Juan Francisco Nunez is in custody Tuesday in lieu of $1 million bail.

Sheriff's officials say the boy had been playing with family and friends, including Nunez, at Pismo State Beach early Friday evening.

Officials arrested Nunez at the beach on suspicion of assault resulting in the death of a child after he allegedly covered the boy's face with sand after burying him up to his neck.

The boy choked on the sand. He was transported by ambulance to Arroyo Grande Community Hospital where he died soon after.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

SoUncool be quicker than me! Dern it!! :)
“People were burying people in the sand, and the 5-year-old wanted to be buried, too,” Sheriff’s spokesman Rob Bryn said Monday, adding the boy was buried in the sand, with his face exposed.

After burying the boy in the sand up to his neck, Nunez, a family friend, allegedly covered his face with sand, which caused the youngster to choke and stop breathing, Bryn said.

“At this point, it appears to investigators that the (boy’s) face was covered as part of the play that was going on,” Bryn said, adding Nunez was arrested because his actions resulted in the boy’s death.

Nearby park visitors contacted state park staff, and state park rangers, lifeguards and County Search and Rescue staff responded to the scene. CPR was administered to the boy.

Nunez is a parolee and unemployed, Bryn said.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2008/07/07/news/breaking/breaking30.txt

How can someone NOT know that breathing and sand don't mix??? I think the dude is unemployed because he's too stupid to work.

[SoUncool]

Thanks for more info on this though Dakota!!! We can consider it a corroborative effort!

[Rotten Apple]

I think the dude is unemployed because he's too stupid to work.

He's too stupid to breathe too, why isn't he dead?

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

He's too stupid to breathe too, why isn't he dead?


In a perfect world, we'd tell this guy sorry, we know he probably didn't mean for this to happen, that this was a tragic consequence to a stupid joke, and that we understand he is beside himself with grief, and guilt, and then shoot him between the eyes, and go the fuck home.

[Hippiepoet]

In a perfect world, we'd tell this guy sorry, we know he probably didn't mean for this to happen, that this was a tragic consequence to a stupid joke, and that we understand he is beside himself with grief, and guilt, and then shoot him between the eyes, and go the fuck home.

Damn, Lieman a year ago, before the DreaminDemon came into my life, I thought No man had the right to take the life of another no matter what. Now....now that I have read heinous fucking stories, learned about humans who seem so non-human, have cried and had nightmares over children who have been raped & murdered by vicious motherfuckers, well fuck me, a bullet to the head sounds quick, simple & if I ever committed a fucking crime like some of these sick bastards...please someone, if I haven't already done so, then off my fucking ass.

Peace~
Hippie

[Rob Taylor]

I know this sounds like a crazy theory, but do you think drinking or drugs were involved?

I hate stories like this because this Nunez might be a nice guy sober, but you put kids and people drinking/drugging on a beach together and the shit will hit the fan.

I guess it's possible no drugs were involved, but if there wasn't then WTF?!?

[Wicked Doll]

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss306/wicked_doll777/nunez.jpg



The sentencing of a Santa Maria man convicted last month of felony involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment at the Oceano Dunes last year has been moved to May 18.

Juan Francisco Nunez was found guilty on March 23 for causing the death of a 5-year-old boy who choked after being buried on the Fourth of July.

Nunez buried Jesse Joe Alvarez, also of Santa Maria, as the boy played at the beach with his mother, whom Nunez was dating, several other family members and a babysitter.

Nunez faces up to 11 years in prison. His sentencing could also be lengthened by a 2003 conviction in Santa Barbara County for procession of methamphetamine for sale, which can add one year. A penalty enhancement for causing great bodily harm and death decided by the jury on the child endangerment charge could add up to four years, according to the District Attorney's Office.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/breaking_news/story/701661.html



An enlarged photo of a smiling tow-headed 5-year-old boy from Santa Maria with sand up to his face — taken in the moments before he died — was shown to jurors Thursday during the first day of a trial involving the death at the Oceano Dunes last year.

Jesse Joe Alvarez was playing at the beach on July 4 with his mother, her then-boyfriend, a babysitter and several other family members when he choked on sand and died.

The boyfriend, Juan Francisco Nunez, also of Santa Maria, who buried Alvarez, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, according to the county District Attorney’s Office. Nunez pleaded not guilty in July.

Seven men and seven women — two of them are alternates — heard arguments from two attorneys Thursday as well as four witness statements called by prosecutor Matthew Kraut. The trial continues today in San Luis Obispo Superior Court at 1:30 p.m.

Kraut in his opening statements said Nunez “shoved a great deal of sand on each side of Alvarez’s face,” after he asked Nunez not to, so “Jesse inhaled the sand out of surprise.”

Kraut said Nunez’s actions were criminally negligent.

Defense attorney Alan Karow said that while his client acknowledges to “swiping” some sand on Alvarez’s face while he was playfully burying him, he did so “in a throwing motion, not a shoving one.”

Lacie Stephenson, 11, of Santa Maria, Alvarez’s aunt, took the stand as Kraut’s first witness, telling jurors she knelt by the boy as Nunez buried him.

Stephenson said Alvarez asked Nunez not to put sand on his face, but Nunez told him “hold your breath and close your eyes,” and covered his face with sand. During her testimony, the girl’s eyes filled with tears, and she cried on the stand, so court took a recess.

She later described how Nunez and Alvarez’s mother, Stacy Baiza of Santa Maria, tried to help him stop choking.

Dr. Gary Walter, a pathologist for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff Coroner, said he pulled "a pillar - or cast - of wet sand" from the full length of his trachea during an autopsy of Alvarez.


http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/657235.html

[Thinkgoat]

I worked Fire/Rescue in a resort town/area on the Gulf Coast. I always worried about drunk and stupid parents doing this to their children. Horrifying.

[WhatThe]

Stephenson said Alvarez asked Nunez not to put sand on his face, but Nunez told him “hold your breath and close your eyes,” and covered his face with sand

I guess it bothers me even more now to know that the little Jesse knew this was coming - not death, but sand in his face. The asshole bullied him. I was originally thinking he just kind of surprised Jesse and dumped sand in his face or something. What an idiot.

[ineedanap]

Dr. Gary Walter, a pathologist for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff Coroner, said he pulled "a pillar - or cast - of wet sand" from the full length of his trachea during an autopsy of Alvarez.

Ok, your trach doesn't fill solidly with sand from inhaling it. I know, I live on a freaking sandbar. Something's fishy here. Sounds to me like Nunez packed it in there on purpose. He should get the death penalty not 11 years FFS.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A Santa Maria man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for burying his girlfriend's 5-year-old son in sand at Pismo State Beach. The child breathed in sand and suffocated.

Juan Francisco Nunez was convicted of felony involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment. He was sentenced Monday by San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Dodie Harmon.

The 24-year-old man told police he didn't think burying Jesse Alvarez during a July 4 beach outing last year would cause harm. He apologized during the sentencing hearing, saying he didn't mean to hurt the boy.http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_12402607

[coffee achiever]

Why is it that these idiots are so often fatal to others and so rarely to themselves?

[akika666]

Why is it that these idiots are so often fatal to others and so rarely to themselves?

oh, they are, but they are "accidental" deaths that get much less publicity unless they take out others with them.

... i guess they are not fatal enough since there are still so many of them pulling this kind of crap.

[Angelinfl]

In reading all these stories... what comes to my mind is that Common Sense has died. I remember getting an email about it a while back ... maybe someone could find it. But I do not believe that people have any common sense anymore and don't think of consequences or worse yet don't care!

[Stella]

In reading all these stories... what comes to my mind is that Common Sense has died. I remember getting an email about it a while back ... maybe someone could find it. But I do not believe that people have any common sense anymore and don't think of consequences or worse yet don't care!

I remember something like that, too, Angel. It seems like people just "live for the moment" (our oldest son actually used those very words), not thinking of the consequences the actions would bring. WTF?

I agree -- where has just plain common sense gone?

{S}

[RaVen Blackehart]

I agree -- where has just plain common sense gone?

Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.

His obituary reads as follows:

Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.

A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.

C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf. His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.

Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.

Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.