Jennifer Stephenson's 2yr-Old Son May Have Legs Amputated Thanks To Child-Abuse

[Jerri Blank]

I was looking and didn't see a thread for this though there is a thread with a child that may have to have his feet amputated because of child-abuse however this one appears to be a different story.

2-Year-Old Santa Fe Boy May Have Legs Amputated
Doctors, Police Believe Child Victim Of Abuse
http://www.koat.com/news/22516773/detail.html
SANTA FE, N.M. --

Doctors at the University of New Mexico Hospital said they may have to amputate a 2-year-old Santa Fe boy's legs.

The boy's parents took him to the emergency room about two weeks ago. Police said it looked like his legs had been tightly bound and the parents and the doctors versions of what happened don't match up.

"It's heartbreaking. It's wrenching," said Sgt. Louis Carlos, with Santa Fe Police Department.

Carlos was there when the boy first went in to the hospital.
"It's hard. It's taxing on our emotions to listen to a little boy scream and cry in pain," Carlos said.

According to a police affidavit, the boy's father told police that he found the child inside an apartment in Santa Fe at about 7 a.m. on Jan. 28. He said when he got in the room, the boy was lying in his toddler bed and a chest of drawers was lying on top of him.

The mother, Jennifer Stephenson, told police she didn't see or hear it happen. But doctors told police the boy was a victim of child abuse or extreme neglect.

The police report indicates they noticed the boy had raised welts about 4 centimeters wide around the backs of both legs, consistent with what Carlos said is "some type of ropes, straps. The story that was conveyed to us is not consistent with the child's injuries."

Doctors performed surgery to remove some damaged tissue to try to save the boy's legs. The boy and his younger sister are now both in the care of Children, Youth and Families Department.

Police checked out the family's apartment and said they found some rope and other evidence.

Neither the father nor the mother has been arrested or charged with a crime.
"We're talking about a 2-year-old victim. I wish the victim could tell us this is what happened to me, but he can't," Carlos said.

The little boy is still listed in stable condition at UNM Hospital.

[~Absynthe~]

this is BS these people need to fess up and tell the truth of what they did to the little fella.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

I have rope and straps at my house. They are not for use on people (unless they are into that type of thing).

I am assuming the evidence shows that the ligature went all the way around the kids legs. Not just across the front and back that being pinched between the bed & dresser would cause. Wouldn't you hear the kid screaming if he crawled up the dresser and it fell on him? No 2yr old is going to keep quiet out fear of getting in trouble for dresser climbing. There would be major noise.

I wonder if they didn't strap him up to keep him in bed?

[Jerri Blank]

I have rope and straps at my house. They are not for use on people (unless they are into that type of thing).

I am assuming the evidence shows that the ligature went all the way around the kids legs. Not just across the front and back that being pinched between the bed & dresser would cause. Wouldn't you hear the kid screaming if he crawled up the dresser and it fell on him? No 2yr old is going to keep quiet out fear of getting in trouble for dresser climbing. There would be major noise.

I wonder if they didn't strap him up to keep him in bed?

I dunno, 'cause if they were just keeping them in bed I'd think it would be like you said previously, across the front or back only..or perhaps around his ankles.

Damn it's a good sign we don't comprehend this shit you know what I mean??

I'm guessing he may lose his legs from the circulation being cut-off to his extremities. I think the binding would have to go all the way around his legs.

They must have made those straps so fucking tight and kept them on for so long for the flesh to actually die away..

augh just typing that made me lose my train of thought to what the hell I was going to say, I'm sorry. omg I'm embarrassed and sicken all at once!!

[myra manes]

8(
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Poor little guy ..

[Silvahalo]

Neither the father nor the mother has been arrested or charged with a crime.
"We're talking about a 2-year-old victim. I wish the victim could tell us this is what happened to me, but he can't," Carlos said.

The little boy is still listed in stable condition at UNM Hospital.

Well, yeah, he can't tell us so hopefully other things/people will speak for him. Meaning, evidence and exceptional investigative work. I don't see these fuckers admitting to what they did unless it means less time behind bars. Hate these fuckers....hate!

Heal completely little one.

[LadyCygnet]

How are they not being charged with negligence?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Santa Fe police on Wednesday arrested the parents of a 2-year-old boy doctors think was so severely abused last month that his legs might have to be amputated.

Anthony Apodaca, 26, and Jennifer Stephenson, 20, were each charged with one count of child abuse, a first-degree felony, according to a news release.
[...]

The boy had raised red welts "with distinctive straight edges" that wrapped around the back of both his legs, as well as similar welts on his shins, kneecaps and ankle, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in state District Court.
[...]

Detectives attempted to interview both Stephenson and Apodaca on Wednesday, but both declined to speak further to police, Carlos said.

Apodaca was charged with child abuse, criminal damage to property and assault on a household member Nov. 15 after he attempted to visit Stephenson's apartment about midnight, he said. At that time, Stephenson declined to let him in, and Apodaca threw a rock through a window at the apartment, Carlos said.

The rock nearly hit Stephenson and Apodaca's other child — a then-10-month-old girl — and glass from the window landed in her crib, he said. The charges were later dropped, according to online court records.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Loc...busing-toddler

Police say the boy's family had been reported to CYFD more than once.

Romaine Serna spokesperson for the Children, Youth, and Families Department says she can't comment on specific cases but says it's common for families to be referred repeatedly.

She admits it's heart-wrenching when a child whose family has been referred to the agency becomes seriously hurt.
[...]

Police say the boy's family was referred three times to CYFD for child abuse and neglect.
[...]

Serna says repeat referrals are common and don't automatically lead to the removal of child from a home; there must be proof of serious abuse or that the child is in immediate danger.

"In child welfare there is always a need for improvement and to perfect practice,” Serna added, “(If) we're looking back and thinking, ‘If we'd only known that then,’ what we try to do is take that information and use it as a teachable moment for the workers in the field."

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S....shtml?cat=504

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The father of a 2-year-old boy who prosecutors say was severely injured by being tied up pleaded guilty Friday to a felony child abuse charge.

Anthony Apodaca, 27, agreed to testify against the boy's mother — Jennifer Stephenson, 21 — in exchange for prosecutors reducing a first-degree felony abuse charge against him to a third-degree charge of negligence leading to the abuse.

"The mom was the primary caregiver and Anthony wasn't even there when this happened," defense attorney Tom Clark said of the January incident. "He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in her case."

Assuming that happens, the state has indicated it wouldn't oppose a deferred sentence for Apodaca, who essentially is charged with allowing his son to be in the care of Stephenson when he should have known it would cause harm to the boy. That means he could avoid further jail time and be placed on supervised probation.

Stephenson's first-degree child abuse charge would carry a mandatory 18 years in prison upon conviction. Stephenson, set to stand trial in January, has been diagnosed as bipolar, attorneys have said. Court records show the couple had past violent incidents and had previously been investigated by the state's Children Youth and Families Department.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Padgett said in court that Stephenson was most culpable in the events that led to the child's injuries. Time card records from Apodaca's job indicated he was at work when the incident occurred and came home after the fact.

After Friday's hearing, Padgett said the boy, whose injuries initially prompted fears that he might have to have his legs amputated, is walking now and in the custody of Children Youth and Families Department.
[...]

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Loc...ild-abuse-case

[cubby]

Thank Goodness they saved his legs.

[badfish76]

Thank God that the little boy didn't lose his legs!!!

I wonder what the hell they were tying him up with? I can't picture something that would leave the pattern that the article describes but that could be due to poor writing by the reporter.

If he really didn't have anything to do with it and she was doing it when he was gone or whatever then I feel the sentence is proper and I feel for the guy. If he is doing this to save his ass then I hope Karma pays him soon.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Wow. Just wow.

If it had been the mom that stood back while the kid had weeks of abuse, everyone would be calling for her head.

From above posts:

Apodaca was charged with child abuse, criminal damage to property and assault on a household member Nov. 15 after he attempted to visit Stephenson's apartment about midnight, he said. At that time, Stephenson declined to let him in, and Apodaca threw a rock through a window at the apartment, Carlos said.

The rock nearly hit Stephenson and Apodaca's other child — a then-10-month-old girl — and glass from the window landed in her crib, he said. The charges were later dropped, according to online court records.

Police say the boy's family had been reported to CYFD more than once.

It's not like he was Captain Oblivious in this whole thing. That's just was released to the media. He gets NO jail time so he can testify.

He's still a shitty father and an asshat. A damned lucky one, too.

[badfish76]

I agree he is no Father of the Year and a complete idiot, but if she was doing this shit as a means of control when he wasn't home and this is the only way to bust her ass I understand the necessity of it and I can deal with his (non) sentence.

[AussieMum]

So thankful his legs were saved AND he is walking! There is a God!

[Silvahalo]

Amazing baby boy has his legs today....remarkable and so happy for him.

I blame the father just as much as the mother. How many woman do we read on who LET their abusive bf beat on their child and they do nothing...well, it's much the same here to me. He was just as responsible for his childs well being, TRUE the bitch inflicted the abuse but really, how long was the abuse going on for his legs to come to that condition? not like it was over night, he certainly knew something was happening. Fucker got off easy.

[Whisper]

Father testifies in child abuse trial

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A Santa Fe father has testified in a child abuse trial how badly injured his son was when he found the boy.

Anthony Apodaca told a jury how he ran into his son's room the morning of Jan. 28, 2010 and found the little boy in severe pain after he was pinned between a large wooden dresser and a metal railing.

Apodaca acknowledged Monday he initially figured the dresser accidentally fell on his son Isaiah, but then changed his account when police told him that wasn't possible.

The boy's mother, 21-year-old Jennifer Stephenson, is on trial for first-degree child abuse resulting in great bodily injury.

[...]
Apodaca pleaded guilty in December to third-degree child abuse and the state agreed not to seek jail time if Apodaca testified at Stephenson's trial.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s....shtml?cat=504

[Kindly One]

Anthony Apodaca heard a faint whimpering coming from the bedroom of his 2-year-old son, Isaiah, on the morning of Jan. 28, 2010.

The 27-year-old father testified Monday in state District Court that he ran into Isaiah's room to find his son's legs pinned between a large wooden dresser and an unforgiving metal railing on the small white bed where the boy slept.

"He kept telling me, 'Hurt. Hurt,' " the soft-spoken Apodaca told jurors Monday during the trial of his girlfriend, Jennifer Stephenson — the boy's mother — on a charge of first-degree child abuse resulting in great bodily injury.

Apodaca demonstrated to jurors how he immediately freed his small son from under the dresser and later saw his son's legs were extremely swollen and red before Stephenson took him to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

...

What Apodaca never saw, according to his day-long testimony, were ropes, strings or any other type of ligature that may have been used to tie the boy to the bed. That differs from how police initially described the case beginning in January 2010, when both Apodaca and Stephenson were first jailed on first-degree child abuse charges.

In December, Apodaca pleaded guilty to third-degree child abuse and the state agreed not to seek jail time if he testified at Stephenson's trial. At that time, prosecutors, presumably, were still pursuing a case against Stephenson that included the theory that the boy's injuries resulted from being tied up.

Defense attorney Sydney West has been contending that such an allegation is unfounded since a March hearing in which she told a judge, "It's very obvious that the state's theory of a ligature is completely not supported by the medical evidence."

Assistant District Attorney Yvonne Chicoine made it clear in last week's opening arguments that the state's case now hinges on whether Stephenson, 21, acted with a reckless disregard for her son's well-being by, among other things, not checking on him for as long as 12 hours.

...

Apodaca acknowledged Monday that he initially figured the dresser accidentally fell on Isaiah, but then changed his account when police told him that wasn't possible when they questioned him a year ago.

"So police told you over and over someone would have had to do this to Isaiah?" West asked in cross examination.

"Yes ma'am," Apodaca replied.

Apodaca, who spent six months in jail after his arrest early last year on the child-abuse charge, also said he believes the dresser was either pushed onto his son by a longtime personal enemy from elementary school who was trying to date Stephenson at the time — that man has never been named as a suspect in the case — or by a ghost.

It also emerged during cross examination that police, according to West, had suggested to Apodaca that his son had been "tethered." West suggested that deep indentations in Isaiah's ankles were the result of elastic bands on the boy's ankle socks that dug into the boy's legs as they swelled overnight while the dresser was on top of him.

...

It is unclear if Stephenson will take the stand.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Loc...d--abuse-trial

I am totally confused. Is it just me or does the dad's whole story smell like a stockyard in July? And yet the state's case is based on neglect for not checking on him in 12 hours? So they believe the dresser story now? The sock thing does sound plausible... and yet, just when it all seems possibly rational, he goes and accuses a ghost. Right.

[badfish76]

Oh fuck me! Not the tub, bed, couch or stairs this time but a fucking ghost?

Does this guy have any idea how fucking stupid he sounds???

[AussieMum]

well that's certainly a new one... A ghost did it!!! For fucks sake!!!

[Rockin Ma]

I'd like more facts. Like where was the father all this time?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

I'd like more facts. Like where was the father all this time?

According to the article Kindly One posted, he worked from 5pm the night before until 2am. He then came home fell asleep. The boy was discovered the next morning.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

And yet the state's case is based on neglect for not checking on him in 12 hours? So they believe the dresser story now?

The case is against the mom. His charges were for "allowing his son to be in the care of Stephenson when he should have known it would cause harm to the boy."

I'm interested in hearing the part of the state's case that shows it wasn't the dresser or sock marks (or a ghost).

[Kindly One]

A case of suspected child abuse is no longer hinging on the question of whether someone tied up a 2-year-old. Rather, it centers on how the boy's mother responded to him being trapped under a piece of heavy furniture.

...

Although police said investigators and doctors believe the injuries suffered by the child were a result of being tied up with a ligature for an extended period of time, prosecutors are no longer making that case in court.

Instead, Assistant District Attorney Yvonne Chicoine argued in her opening statement that Stephenson did not adequately monitor her child or respond appropriately when she discovered he had been injured Jan. 28, 2010.

"What makes Jennifer Stephenson's conduct in this case is criminal is not the dresser falling; that is a mishap many mothers and fathers fear. ... What makes her conduct criminal is her failure to respond, her failure to react and her failure to heed Isaiah's cries," Chicoine said.

The mother was asleep during the ordeal — and her attorney said she tested clean for drugs the next day.

...

Chicoine confirmed in an interview that the state was no longer arguing that Isaiah was tied down.

...

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/loc...mom-s-response

A state district judge on Friday said he gave serious consideration to tossing a child-abuse case out against after state prosecutors rested their case against a 21-year-old mother who faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted.

After deliberation, however, Judge Michael Vigil declined a defense attorney's request for a directed verdict in the case against Jennifer Stephenson, the mother charged with first-degree child abuse of her 2-year-old son after the boy's legs were severely injured and nearly required amputation in January 2010.

The trial, which began with jury selection Jan. 31 and was scheduled to last four days, will instead proceed Tuesday when attorney Sydney West is expected to close the defense case. An expert defense witness from California who has been on subpoena for the slowly progressing trial had to return home for the weekend before testifying and will not be back in Santa Fe until Tuesday, the earliest the jury will begin deliberations.

Vigil said in open court, although not with the jury present, that he "has serious doubts" about the state's ability to garner a conviction in the case and noted prosecutors have seemed to pursue three different theories since the case was first brought before the judge for arraignment a year ago.

The state is no longer pursuing the claim, as originally indicted, that Stephenson "intentionally or negligently caused" the abuse that resulted in great bodily harm. Rather, the state now contends she negligently permitted it to happen.

In order for prosecutors to gain a conviction, according to New Mexico Criminal Code, the state will have to prove Stephenson "acted with reckless disregard" and that she "should have known" her actions, or inaction, "created a substantial and foreseeable risk."

Initially, police and prosecutors pursued a theory that injuries on the boy's legs appeared to be caused by his being tied up or tethered to something inside his bedroom in Stephenson's southwest Santa Fe apartment.

...

In Chicione's opening arguments last week, she told jurors the case was about Stephenson's failure to adequately monitor her child, who prosecutors say appears to have had his legs pinned under the large dresser for up to 10 hours without the mother so much as checking up on him, and the mother's less-than-urgent response once the injuries were discovered.

Prosecutors have also suggested the parents should have known the old dresser presented a danger to falling on the child.

...

Earlier this week, Apodaca testified he arrived at Stephenson's apartment around 2 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2010, and discovered the boy's legs pinned between the fallen dresser and a metal bar on his bed around 7 a.m. He said that before going to sleep, he checked on the couple's infant daughter while he thought Stephenson was going to check on the boy.

What neither side disagrees on is the severity of the boy's injuries. Nevertheless, the boy has made an improbable recovery, at least based on initial medical opinions, and is now walking again and in the custody of the state's Children, Youth and Families Department.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/loc...son-abuse-case


Maybe it's just me, but I find this whole thing intriguing. Did the prosecution flub it by changing their story three times and replacing the ADA? Did police overreact to a horrific accident and are they just trying to cover their asses now by flogging a dead horse?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

In Chicione's opening arguments last week, she told jurors the case was about Stephenson's failure to adequately monitor her child, who prosecutors say appears to have had his legs pinned under the large dresser for up to 10 hours without the mother so much as checking up on him, and the mother's less-than-urgent response once the injuries were discovered.

Prosecutors have also suggested the parents should have known the old dresser presented a danger to falling on the child.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/loc...son-abuse-case


Maybe it's just me, but I find this whole thing intriguing. Did the prosecution flub it by changing their story three times and replacing the ADA? Did police overreact to a horrific accident and are they just trying to cover their asses now by flogging a dead horse?

I think they are doing some MAJOR covering of ass. While, in general, she may not be the greatest mother person, they are charging her because she didn't check on the child for "maybe" 10 hours? A child that age is supposed to sleep 12-14 hours. If they can't prove that the child's cries could be heard, just how often are parents supposed to check on a sleeping kid?

I know a bunch of you will weigh in and say how often you check on your sleeping kids (or don't) BUT the question is how often does "the law" expect you to realistically do it and still get your own sleep?

And the question of him crying out... I assume he did. But then again, I can't rule out that he didn't. It's been my experience that sometimes kids sound like they are dying for the littlest scratch. Other times, something that looks like a "near killing" gets nothing more than a stunned look. Maybe the dresser fell on him and he was pinned. If found right away, he would have been fine. But maybe he squirmed and couldn't get out, maybe cried, and fell asleep. The damage being caused by the length of time the pressure remained.

[Nell]

You know that saying "Let sleeping dogs lie?" Yeah, in my house we let sleeping kids sleep.

[Athena]

By changing their story multiple times, the prosecution has created their own "reasonable doubt". No way a jury would responsibly find the defendant guilty under these circumstances, nor could a judge. Maybe mom IS guilty. But, just like sometimes they prosecute innocent people... sometimes, the bad guy goes free. Fact of life in a system run by humans.

[Aena]

Two months before Jennifer Stephenson allegedly caused serious injury to her 2-year-old son, Children, Youth and Families Department social workers investigated her infant daughter’s near-drowning.


Stephenson, 21, is charged with child abuse for allegedly tying up her son, whose injuries were so serious, his legs almost needed amputation. Children, Youth and Families Department spokeswoman Romaine Serna tells SFR her agency has been involved with the family since 2007, and was called to their Santa Fe house in November 2009 when the baby almost drowned in the bathtub.

http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/ar...ss-sister.html

Seems she has a problem keeping an eye on both of her children....

As a state district judge read the jury's guilty verdict in the child-abuse trial of Jennifer Stephenson on Wednesday, a state prosecutor could be seen scribbling a note to her colleague on a yellow legal pad.

"Justice for Isaiah," it read.

The decision won't heal the injuries of the now 3-year-old boy at the center of the case. And the jury found the child's mother guilty of second-degree child abandonment — not of first-degree child abuse for which prosecutors had been arguing. But the result was still vindication for assistant district attorneys Dorie Biagianti Smith and Yvonne Chicoine.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Loc...use-conviction

Couldn't find her sentence...

[LadyCygnet]

That's all? Good grief!

She added she is in the process of trying to regain custody of Isaiah and his younger sister, who have been living recently with their paternal grandparents. The state's Children, Youth and Families Department will have the final say in that, and Biagianti Smith declined comment about the potential reunification.

After numerous surgeries, Isaiah is again walking today but will likely suffer lifelong complications due to the injuries.

CYFD had been called to the Stephenson home at least one other time prior to Isaiah's injuries, but that information was not presented in trial.

No. Just no.

Stephenson broke down while the verdict was read, then frantically shuffled through her purse to turn off her ringing cell phone.

[Aena]

With the state changing the theory so many times, they are lucky they got the jury to agree on any guilty verdict. I couldn't find the sentence she received anywhere though...

[LadyCygnet]

With the state changing the theory so many times, they are lucky they got the jury to agree on any guilty verdict. I couldn't find the sentence she received anywhere though...

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that. Worthy of another

I just hope she doesn't get the kids back. There's no excuse for waiting 6-12 hours to seek medical care for her son after a freakin' DRESSER fell on him.