A therapist who was sent to do an assessment at the Lancaster home of a boy less than four years before his death testified on Tuesday, Feb. 14, that she had grave concerns about the way his mother behaved toward her children.
Wendy Wright said she called a child abuse hotline in October 2014 to report her concerns about Heather Maxine Barron because she felt a social worker was not taking her seriously and was going to close the case against the woman, whom the prosecution witness described as “very detached” and “very cold.”
Barron, 33, and her boyfriend, Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 37, are charged with one count each of murder and torture involving the June 2018 death of Barron’s 10-year-old son, Anthony Avalos, along with two counts of child abuse involving the boy’s half-siblings, identified in court as “Destiny O.” and “Rafael O.”
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Over Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami’s objection, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty against the two after the election of District Attorney George Gascón, who issued a directive that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case.”
Leiva and Barron now face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as charged in the non-jury trial before Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta.
“It was just a constant barrage of negativity,” the marriage and family therapist testified about what she witnessed of Barron’s interaction with her children. “It was striking … This is still striking.”
Wright, who worked at the time for the Children’s Center of Antelope Valley, said she informed the social worker that she believed Barron had no intention of following through with services and that she desperately needed parenting classes. She noted that the woman called one of her younger sons…
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