Worst case of Child Abuse I've heard of

Briana Lopez
In Alburquerque, new Mexico there is a small grave of a baby that has been fenced in and locked up. No one can get to the grave to lay flowers or grieve. District Attorney Susana Martinez says this is just another way that Briana Lopez's parents are causing this precious baby pain, even after her death.
On July 19, 2002, Briana was only five months old and suffered some of the worst abuse imaginable for a child that age. The abuse
resulted in the death of this poor baby girl.

On record are allegations of sexual abuse, being shaken and beaten,
over 13 adult sized bite marks as well as other lacerations and contusions over her entire body. In juries to her genital and anal area were also found . Briana's family called 911 and said that she had fallen outof her chair and was no longer breathing.

On trial for her death were Briana's mother, Stephanie Lopez who is accused of murdering her, her father, Andy Walters and an Uncle,
Steven Lopez who are accused of sexually abusing her and murdering her and her Grandmother, Patricia Walters and one other Uncle, Robert Walters Jr., who face charges of failing to report child abuse. Briana's uncle Steven , her father Andrew and her mother Stephanie are facing the most time in prison. Though NONE of them
will serve enough time to make up for what they did to this innocent
baby girl.

Stephani Lopez said:

"Until the day I die I will feel guilty for the way my daughter left this world in such a horrible way."

Stephanie told the judge that she didn't have anything to do with the
death of her daughter and that it had been husbands fault, claiming
she never knew that Briana was being abused.

Stepanie's Attorney, Stephen Ryan had the NERVE to say:

"Andy killed baby Briana didn't he. If everybody else gets
to blame him the mother of the child ought to get to
blame him too."
Susana Martinez, District Attorney had this to say:

"To say this child was beaten head to toe is not an
exaggeration."

"I find their statements extremely self-serving. It's all
about how I feel, what I've gone through, how life has
been difficult for me since i've been arrested. It's all
about I, I, I and never there was an empathy for Briana."

There was one woman who spoke up for Briana. A great Aunt
name Rosanne Garcia stated:

"I heard them pleading for mercy for them not to be
given so many years and they all had defense attorneys
to help them but who was there for Briana when she was
being violated and abused."

"The time that they are going to get, is not going
to be enough."
Susana Martinez asked for the maximum punishment possible for all of them. Sadly, their sentences do not fit their crimes. It took a jury
of seven men and five woman nine hours to find all of them guilty.

Andy Walters, the father, received a mere 57 years in prison and
her Uncle Steven Lopez received only 51 years for sexually abusing
and causing the death of Briana due to abuse and neglect.

Stephanie Lopez, hermother received a very short sentence of 27 years in prison for child abuse and neglect resulting in death. The
Jury decided that she was not guilty of intentional abuse since she
did not inflict the abuse but had allowed it to take place.

Briana's Grandmother, Patricia Walters and her Uncle, Robert Walters Jr each got off easy with only 60 days in jail for failing to
report the abuse and save Briana's life.

As each guilty verdict was read, the Lopez and Watlers families
showed their emotions by embracing and crying. The only one of
the defendants to show emotion at that time was Steven Lopez who
is the twin brother of Stephanie, put his head in his hands and started to cry.

When the jury was dismissed and had left the court room, the
defendants then began to show their emotions by crying and
hugging their lawyers who tried to console them. Stephanie and Steven were allowed to hug eachother and cry before being lead out of the court room by guards.

 

THE FACTS:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Filing Date: June 21, 2007
Plaintiff-Petitioner vs Stephanie Lopez

OPINION

MAES, Justice.

{1} Defendant Stephanie Lopez was convicted by a jury of negligently permitting child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm, and negligently permitting child abuse not resulting in death or great bodily harm, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-6-1 (2001). Defendant was tried with four codefendants facing various charges as a result of the death of Defendant's five-month-old daughter, Baby Briana. Prior to trial, Defendant made a motion to sever her trial from that of her codefendants. She asserted that her right to confrontation would be violated in a joint trial if the custodial statements of her codefendants were admitted as evidence. Defendant's motion was denied. At Defendant's trial, the district court admitted into evidence the statements made by her codefendants while they were in custody. On appeal, the Court of Appeals held that the admission of the codefendants' statements resulted in a violation of Defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confrontation and that this constitutional error was not harmless. The Court of Appeals reversed Defendant's conviction and remanded her case with the instruction that Defendant be tried separately. The State petitioned this Court to review the Court of Appeals' Opinion. We granted certiorari on the State's petition and reverse the Court of Appeals' Opinion as it applies to Defendant, Stephanie Lopez.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE BELOW
-Baby Briana died on July 19, 2002. At the time, Defendant lived with Baby Briana's father, Andrew Walters (Father), in the mobile home of Father's mother, Patricia Walters (Grandmother). Defendant and Father shared one bedroom of the mobile home with Baby Briana, the couple's eighteen-month-old son, Andy Jr., and Defendant's twin brother, Steven Lopez (Uncle).
-On the morning of July 19, 2002, Defendant made a 911 call to report that Baby Briana had stopped breathing. Defendant and Father administered C.P.R. on Baby Briana until paramedics arrived and transported her to the hospital. When Baby Briana arrived in the emergency room she had bruises and bite marks on her body and head, and she appeared lifeless. After unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate her, Baby Briana was pronounced dead.
-Defendant's statement to the attending physician and nurse in the emergency room indicated that Baby Briana's injuries were the result of Baby Briana falling out of bed. However, the forensic pathologist who testified at Defendant's trial stated that Baby Briana's injuries were not the result of Baby Briana falling out of bed. The autopsy of Baby Briana revealed that she died from cranial cerebral injuries. She had bruising and scraping injuries throughout her head, as well as on her upper forehead. She had numerous human bite marks all over her body and head, fifteen in total. There were extensive injuries to Baby Briana's head and fatal injuries to her brain. She had bleeding within the membranes around the brain as well as around the nerves of her eyes. The autopsy revealed that Baby Briana's skull was fractured in two places, on two different bones, and that the fractures were 5-7 days old. An examination of the membranes around the brain showed the presence of both old and new blood, indicating that Baby Briana had received a separate brain injury in the past. Baby Briana's optical nerves were filled with both fresh and old blood which meant that she had been violently shaken on at least two occasions. Baby Briana suffered two rib fractures on the right side of her chest several weeks before her death. She also had bucket handle fractures on both her right and left thigh bones as well as a fracture through the top of her left arm. These injuries were the result of her limbs being forced, twisted, or yanked. Baby Briana's anus and vagina were also injured. Baby Briana's death was characterized as a homicide.

Statements of Defendant and her Codefendants
-In the course of the investigation of Baby Briana's death, police interviewed Defendant, Father, Uncle, and Father's Brother, Robert Walters. Defendant was interviewed on July 19, 2002. In her statement to police, Defendant said that a couple of days prior to Baby Briana's death, Defendant had observed Father throwing Baby Briana up in the air and saw her "come down." Defendant said that she told Father not to do that because he was going to hurt the child. Defendant attributed the bruising on Baby Briana's head to the fact that Baby Briana rolled off the bed a few days prior to July 19, 2002. Defendant stated that on the night of July 18, 2002, she was in her bedroom of the mobile home with Father, Uncle, Andy Jr., and Father's brother Robert Walters. Defendant said that she had two to three beers prior to falling asleep at approximately 10:00 p.m. Father and the two uncles remained awake. When Defendant woke up at 9:45 a.m., Baby Briana was bruised, pale, and not breathing. Defendant said that she and Father were worried about Baby Briana's condition so they called Grandmother and then called 911. The 911 call was made at 10:20 a.m. Defendant stated that the bruising and other markings on Baby Briana's body were not there when she went to bed the night before. Defendant's explanation as to the bruising documented by medical personnel was that Father had said maybe Uncle threw Baby Briana up in the air. Defendant stated that she had seen Father throw Baby Briana up into the air but she said she had not seen it occur on the night of July 18, 2002. Defendant stated that she had seen Father throw Baby Briana into the air and saw her head hit the ceiling in the bedroom approximately three times. Defendant also said that maybe Uncle threw Baby Briana up into the air as well. In explaining the bite marks, Defendant said that she had seen her son bite Baby Briana.
-Father was also interviewed by police on July 19, 2002. In his statement to police, Father admitted to throwing Baby Briana in the air. He stated that he had done it four days prior to her death and that on the night of July 18, 2002, he said that he threw her up into the air two or three times and that her head hit the ceiling. Father also stated that Uncle threw Baby Briana in the air.
-During the police interview, Father recounted his activities from the night of July 18, 2002. He said he got off work at 5:00 p.m. and arrived home around 6:00 p.m. Sometime around 8:00 p.m., he picked up Uncle at work and they purchased a case of beer. They returned to their house and spent the rest of the night in their room with Mother, Baby Briana, and Andy Jr. He said he went to sleep between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. and checked Baby Briana around 3:00 a.m. He then got up around 7:00 a.m., played with Baby Briana, and gave her a blanket, and changed her diaper. Father said he awoke again at around 10:00 a.m. and he and Defendant discovered Baby Briana was not breathing so they called 911. In this portion of the interview, Father admitted only that Baby Briana had fallen off her bed during the night and that he caused two bite marks on her ribs, after initially claiming that his 18-month-old son made the bite marks.
-After a break, the police continued interrogating Father and informed him that Baby Briana was dead. Father then admitted to throwing Baby Briana into the air and said that Baby Briana hit her head on the ceiling four days before she died. Father admitted to bruising Baby Briana, stating, "I didn't mean for it to leave a bruise like that. Like I left her a bruise like that before, just from messing with her. [Mother] gets mad." Father admitted that on the night of July 18, 2002, he and Uncle were "playing a little rough" with Baby Briana and throwing her into the air, with Baby Briana hitting the ceiling, and being dropped onto the floor when he "missed" her. Father identified a particular bruise on a photo as being caused when Baby Briana hit the ceiling and another when she landed on the floor. Father also identified various bite marks that he acknowledged he made. Father said Baby Briana cried when she was dropped onto the floor, and when he was asked what he did to calm her down, he answered, "I just kept throwing her in the air."
-Father was also shown a photo of Baby Briana's anus, and Father became very upset and profane, saying to police that they were "not going to find any semen." Father said he cleaned Baby Briana's butt with a baby wipe, wrapped the baby wipe around his left index finger, and put the wrapped finger into Baby Briana's anus up to the second knuckle at the middle of his finger. When he took his finger out, "[t]here was a little bit of blood on there."
-Father stated that Mother would sometimes get mad at Baby Briana and would pinch Baby Briana's ears and throw Baby Briana into her bouncy seat from a distance of about two feet. Father also stated that Mother questioned him about the bruises on Baby Briana and he informed her that he had been playing rough with her.

{11} Uncle was also interviewed at the police station on July 19, 2002. Uncle gave an initial statement to police after being informed of his Miranda rights. Uncle stated that on the night of July 18, 2002, he was in the bedroom playing video games with Father and Mother. He said that Robert Walters came home with a friend and they stayed in the room together drinking beer. Uncle said that Defendant had four or five beers. Uncle stated that nothing unusual happened that night and he went to bed at 2:00 a.m. In a subsequent statement to police, Uncle admitted to throwing Baby Briana in the air and said that one time she hit her head on the ceiling. Police then confronted Uncle with admissions made by Father regarding the events of July 18, 2002. Uncle stated that Father was throwing Baby Briana up into the air and that she hit her head twice. After further questioning, Uncle admitted that he also threw Baby Briana into the air so that she would hit her head on the ceiling and allowed her to fall onto the floor. Uncle was then shown photographs of Baby Briana's anus. Initially Uncle denied touching Baby Briana's anus, saying, "Oh, no. I didn't do that. I didn't do nothing like that." When questioned further, his response changed to, "I can't remember. I don't remember." Uncle then proceeded to talk about the number of beers he had consumed and he then said he could not remember starting a sex act with Baby Briana, but he remembered stopping because he realized what he was doing was wrong.

Defendant's Trial

{12} As a result of these events, Defendant was charged with negligently permitting child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm, negligently permitting child abuse not resulting in death or great bodily harm, and intentional child abuse not resulting in great bodily harm, contrary to Section 30-6-1. Father, Uncle, Grandmother, and Robert Walters also faced various charges as a result of Baby Briana's death. The State filed a Statement of Joinder, requesting that Defendant be tried together with Father, Uncle, Grandmother, and Robert Walters. In response, Defendant filed a motion to sever her trial from that of her codefendants. In support of her motion, Defendant argued that a joint trial would result in unfair and incurable prejudice because the statements her codefendants gave to law enforcement would be inadmissible against Defendant in a separate trial. The trial court denied Defendant's motion and proceeded with the joint trial of the five codefendants. The custodial statements of Defendant, Father, Uncle, and Robert Walters were admitted at the joint trial, over Defendant's objection that the admission of her codefendants' testimony would violate her right to confrontation.

{13} Defendant was convicted of negligently permitting child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm, negligently permitting child abuse not resulting in death or great bodily harm, and acquitted of intentional child abuse not resulting in great bodily harm. Defendant, Father, and Uncle appealed their convictions to the Court of Appeals. Grandmother and Robert Walters did not appeal. The Court consolidated the appeals of Defendant, Father, and Uncle and reversed the convictions of each of the defendants and remanded their cases with instructions that the defendants be tried separately. The Court held that the admission of the statements of the codefendants violated the defendants' Sixth Amendment right to confrontation and that this constitutional error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Walters,. The State appealed to this Court arguing that the Court of Appeals erred in determining that (1) Defendant preserved her argument at trial, (2) her confrontation rights were violated, (3) this error was not harmless, and (4) Defendant is entitled to a separate trial.
DISCUSSION
Preservation
-We first address the State's claim that Defendant failed to preserve her claim for severance. The State argues that Defendant failed to properly preserve the issue of whether her right to confrontation was violated when she was denied a separate trial and the statements of her codefendants were admitted at her joint trial. The State asserts that Defendant did not preserve this argument for appeal because she failed to identify with specificity the portions of the statements that were the subject of her objection.
-In order to preserve an issue for appeal, a defendant must make a timely objection that specifically apprises the trial court of the nature of the claimed error and invokes an intelligent ruling thereon. Rule 12-216 NMRA; State v. Varela. In the present case, Defendant made numerous objections, both prior to trial and during her joint trial. Defendant filed a Motion in Limine to sever her trial from that of her codefendants, arguing that she would be prejudiced if the court admitted the statements of Father and Uncle. The trial court denied Defendant's motion. Defendant renewed her motion to sever after opening statements were made. The court again denied Defendant's motion, stating:
Counsel, all of you have made a renewed motion on the record. I don't know that you need to do it over and over again, but you certainly all have a motion for severance. I ruled on it and I intend that be preserved for all of you. I certainly want you to be able to appeal any matter that you feel you should appeal.

After her renewed motion to sever was denied, Defendant requested that, as an alternative to severance, the court redact the accusatory portions of Father's statement that refer to Defendant. This request was also denied by the court. Throughout trial, Defendant's codefendants raised objections based on "hearsay, [the] fifth amendment, and Bruton" to the testimony of the police officers who introduced the statements of Father, Uncle, and Defendant. Defendant joined in these objections.
-We find that Defendant's motion to sever and her objections at trial properly preserved her argument that the inclusion of her codefendants' statements resulted in a violation of her Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against her. By including the terms, "Bruton" and "Confrontation Clause" in her objections, Defendant effectively put the court on notice of the specific nature of her objection and the impropriety of allowing a joint trial where the statements of codefendants would be offered as evidence.
Severance
-At trial and on appeal, Defendant's severance arguments were based on her assertion that the custodial statements made by Father and Uncle would not have been admissible against her in a separate trial. Severance may be necessary if evidence that is inadmissible at defendant's separate trial is admitted in a joint trial. See State v. Montoya, 114 N.M. 221, 225, 836 P.2d 667, 671 (Ct. App. 1992). The conclusion that inadmissible evidence was introduced at a joint trial does not necessitate reversal of a denial of severance in all cases. "A trial court has discretion in deciding whether or not to sever a case. On review of such a decision we must decide whether, due to the joint trial, there is an appreciable risk that the jury convicted for illegitimate reasons." Id. at 224, 836 P.2d at 671 (citation omitted). Therefore, we begin our inquiry by examining the statements of Father and Uncle to determine if they were erroneously admitted. Then we examine the impact of those statements.
Statements
-The State argues that the custodial statements of Father and Uncle fall outside of Crawford and do not implicate Defendant's right to confrontation. The State is correct in the assertion that not all police interrogations produce testimony. Since Crawford, the Supreme Court has clarified that police interrogations produce testimony when "the primary purpose of the interrogation is to establish or prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal prosecution." Davis v. Washington, 126 S.Ct. 2266, 2269 (2006). In this case, the statements of Father and Uncle were elicited during a police interrogation that took place at the police station, hours after Baby Briana's death. Through their interrogation, police attempted to reconstruct the events that led to Baby Briana's death and obtain inculpatory statements from the codefendants. Because the questioning of the codefendants constituted an attempt to "prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal prosecution," id., we conclude that the statements of Father and Uncle are testimonial.
-The testimonial statements of Father and Uncle were admitted at trial through the testimony of the interrogating officers. Father and Uncle did not testify at Defendant's joint trial and it is undisputed that Defendant did not have a prior opportunity to cross-examine Father or Uncle. Thus, the admission of these statements was clearly contrary to the Supreme Court's holding in Crawford. Therefore, the admission of Father's and Uncle's statements in this case is a "per se" violation of Defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against her.Because Defendant did not have an opportunity to cross-examine [the witness], the admission of [his] statement constituted a per se violation of Defendant's Sixth Amendment right of confrontation.").

Harmless Error
-Having decided that the admission of Father's and Uncle's statements constituted a violation of the Confrontation Clause, we must now determine whether this violation of Defendant's constitutional rights warrants reversal of her conviction. The State asserts that the Court of Appeals' reversal of Defendant's conviction was erroneous because any error regarding the admission of Father's and Uncle's statements was harmless. A violation of a defendant's constitutional right to confrontation may be deemed harmless if the State can establish that the constitutional error was "`harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.'" Alvarez-Lopez, 2004-NMSC-030, ¶ 25 (quoting Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 630 (1993)). In the case of constitutional error, the error may be deemed harmless if there is no "`reasonable possibility that the evidence complained of might have contributed to [the defendant's] conviction.'" Johnson, 2004-NMSC-029, ¶ 9 (quoting Chapman v. California).
-In light of the above principles, we turn to the record in this case to determine whether the erroneous admission of codefendant's testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt with respect to each of Defendant's convictions. See id. ¶ 31. "Because our harmless-error analysis instructs that error may be prejudicial with respect to one conviction, but harmless with respect to another, we review the effect of [codefendant's] statement with respect to each conviction separately." Id. (quoting Clark v. State).

I.Negligently Permitting Child AbuseResulting in Death or Great Bodily Harm
-The charge of negligently permitting child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm pertains to the injuries inflicted on Baby Briana in the last two days of her life. "Abuse of a child consists of a person knowingly, intentionally or negligently, and without justifiable cause, causing or permitting a child to be . . . placed in a situation that may endanger the child's life or health [or] tortured, cruelly confined or cruelly punished," resulting in the death of, or great bodily harm to, the child. Section 30-6-1(D); see also § 30-6-1(E)-(F). Under this theory, the State was required to prove in relevant part that: (1) Defendant permitted Baby Briana to be placed in a situation which endangered the life or health of Baby Briana or permitted Baby Briana to be tortured or cruelly punished; (2) Defendant acted intentionally or with reckless disregard; (3) Defendant was a parent, guardian or custodian of the child, or had accepted responsibility for the child's welfare; (4) Defendant's actions or failure to act resulted in the death of or great bodily harm to Baby Briana; and (5) this happened in New Mexico on or between July 18, 2002, and July 19, 2002. See UJI 14-603 NMRA (defining the elements of negligently permitting child abuse with bodily harm).

{26} A review of Father's and Uncle's statements reveals that they are largely silent with regard to Defendant's actions or knowledge during the last two days of Baby Briana's life. Father and Uncle both stated that Defendant was in the room on the night of July 18, 2002, and Uncle stated that Defendant consumed five to six beers that night. In Defendant's statement to police she did not contradict Father's or Uncle's statements in any significant respect. Defendant told police that she was in the room with Father, Uncle, and Baby Briana, and that she fell asleep around 10:00 p.m. after drinking two to three beers. The statements given by Father and Uncle referred almost exclusively to their own conduct of throwing Baby Briana in the air and allowing her to fall to the floor and to sexually assaulting Baby Briana. In his interview with police, Father explicitly stated that Defendant was "passed out" while Baby Briana was being thrown in the air:
Q. When [Baby Briana] hit her head on the ceiling? Did she cry?
A. Yeah.
Q. What did Stephanie say?
A. I don't even know, I don't even know if she was awake or not.
Q. Did she pass out?
A. She just passed out.
Later in his interview with police, Father was questioned about Defendant's whereabouts on the night of July 18, 2002:
Q. And where's your wife this whole time?
A. She was there too.
Q. Did she see it happen?
A. She passed out.
Q. She saw some of it happen because she told part of it, correct?
A. She was passed out.
Q. She was passed out? So the only ones awake were you, Briana and Steven? Yes or no?
A. Yes, sir.
Father and Uncle did not indicate in any way that Defendant participated in the abuse of Baby Briana in any way.
-Considering the first of the Johnson harmless-error factors, the importance of the witness' testimony, Father's and Uncle's testimonial statements were not significantly damaging to Defendant. Father and Uncle merely placed Defendant in the room with Baby Briana on the night of her death, a fact Defendant admitted in her own statement to police. As to the second Johnson factor, the statements were essentially cumulative to Defendant's own admissible testimony. See Johnson, 2004-NMSC-029, ¶ 38 (describing that "[c]umulative evidence is additional evidence of the same kind tending to prove the same points as other evidence already given"). The only distinction between Defendant's version of events, and Father's and Uncle's description of Defendant's behavior, was the number of beers Defendant consumed. Defendant claimed she consumed two or three beers, while Uncle told police she drank five or six. As to the third factor articulated in Johnson, "the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the testimony of the witness on material points," Defendant's own statement to police corroborated the statements of Father and Uncle. Regarding the fourth factor listed in Johnson, the extent of Defendant's opportunity to cross-examine Father or Uncle, Defendant did not have an occasion to cross-examine her codefendants, as neither testified at the joint trial.