Man found guilty of beating son to death

Man found guilty of beating son to death
The boy, 12, was handcuffed, starved, whipped with belts and pounded with a golf club.

By Ramon Coronado -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, April 22, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/courts_legal/story/14246612p-15064436c.html

A Sacramento Superior Court jury on Friday convicted Andrew Anthony Cejas of beating to death his 12-year-old boy because he thought his son was overweight.

The jury found the 38-year-old registered sex offender guilty of first-degree murder, but found that he didn't torture the boy, a contention that carried a life term with no parole.

Cejas faces 75 years to life at sentencing May 18 before Judge Gary S. Mullen.

Christopher Cejas of North Carolina, who lost 35 pounds over a four-month stay with his father and stepmother, was kept from eating by being handcuffed to doorknobs and an entryway post in their Watt Avenue apartment.

When he was found Aug. 21, 2002, he had more than 74 wounds, including a severed liver, torn kidney and bleeding in the brain.

Trial evidence showed that over four days the boy was whipped with belts and pounded with a golf club. A videocamera poised near his bed recorded his every move at night.

Evidence revealed that an upstairs neighbor could hear the boy crying out in pain and called authorities, but never told them the boy's name or where they could find him.

The 33-year-old stepmother, Kathryn Elizabeth Potter, who was sentenced on April 7 to 15 years to life, stood by and watched as the elder Cejas carried out the relentless whippings because she hated and was disgusted by the boy, court records show.

Potter, who had 8-year-old twin girls from a previous relationship and a 3-year-old boy fathered by Cejas, had been contacted by Child Protective Services and warned to never leave her husband alone with the children because he was a registered sex offender, according to trial evidence.

Although his jury was never was told, Cejas was convicted in 1993 of two counts of sexually molesting the 9-year-old sister of his former wife.

Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely, who argued that the boy was tortured, told jurors that Potter started starving the boy by keeping food from him and locking the bathroom at night. The stepmother didn't like the boy's eating habits and thought he was overweight, the prosecutor alleged.

The stepmother also chronicled the boy's misbehavior in journals she kept for Cejas, who would carry out the beatings, prosecution evidence showed.

Cejas' lawyer, Alan Whisenand, said Cejas never drank alcohol or took drugs and was away from home much of the time due to his home-improvement business.

The public defender didn't dispute the boy was murdered, but blamed the slaying on the stepmother, who he said was insanely jealous and feared Cejas would reunite with the boy's mother.

The day the boy was found dead on the floor of his bedroom, Potter claims to have covered his body with a blanket before leaving with her children to meet in Redding with her father, a retired police officer.

In Redding, Potter told authorities how she left the boy. They, in turn, contacted Sacramento County deputies, who found the body.

Cejas left home that morning for a sheriff's work project picking up trash for failing to register his address as sex offender. He was arrested when he returned home.

The Bee's Ramon Coronado can be reached at (916) 321-1191 or rcoronado@sacbee.com.