Trial begins for father in starving boy's death

Trial begins for father in starving boy's death

By Ramon Coronado -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, April 5, 2006

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14239065p-15059289c.html

Twelve-year-old Christopher Cejas didn't have a chance.

A neighbor could hear the boy crying out in pain and called authorities, but she never told them the boy's name or where they could find him.

The boy was slowly being starved to death and had lost 35 pounds. He was handcuffed, and a video camera next to his bed recorded his every move.

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

"Sometimes marriage brings out the worst in a couple," Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely said in opening statements in the murder trial of the boy's father, Andrew Anthony Cejas, 38.

The boy's stepmother, Kathryn Elizabeth Potter, 33, has been found guilty of second-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Though the mother "had more issues than you can imagine," it was the father who used a golf club and belts to pound the life out of the little boy, Shakely told jurors in Sacramento Superior Court.

In his opening remarks, Assistant Public Defender Alan Whisenand said the father loved his son and wanted to give him "the gift of a new life."

It was the stepmother who was "filled with anger" and carried out "cruel, barbaric forms of discipline and unspeakable acts," Whisenand said.

"She treated Chris in vile ways. Andrew didn't know she was on the verge of exploding," the defense attorney told jurors.

"Chris was murdered, but not by his father," Whisenand said of his client.

Andrew Cejas is on trial in connection with the Aug. 21, 2002, murder of his son with a special circumstance of carrying out the killing through torture.

He faces life in prison with no parole if convicted.

Christopher Cejas was having behavioral problems in school in North Carolina and moved in with his father and his new wife in the summer of 2002.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies found the lifeless body of the boy lying on its side under a blanket on the bedroom floor of their Watt Avenue apartment. Andrew Cejas was arrested that afternoon.

Potter, who worked as a dog trainer, had left home earlier in the day with her 8-year-old twin daughters and 3-year-old son. She had arranged to meet her father in Redding, where he accompanied his daughter to the Redding Police Department. After investigators interviewed her, Sacramento County sheriff's deputies were asked to check on Christopher.

In court testimony, Fran Frank said she baby-sat for Potter and said she would see Potter punishing Christopher by making him stand with his nose against the wall of a corner.

One time, Frank said, the couple took the boy to a home for children who don't listen to their parents.

When they returned Christopher was "very scared," Frank testified.

Potter told her she "hated" Christopher and that he was an "ugly and mischief child" who was too much for her to take care of, Frank said.

Darren Smith, a longtime friend of Andrew Cejas, testified the two worked together for a home improvement company and would be out of town for long periods of time.

Smith said Potter and Cejas were "volatile" and often had fights that he would have to break up.

"Andrew was the head of the house," Smith said.

But under cross-examination, the defense attorney attempted to show that Potter ran the family, sometimes with violence.

Potter would throw things at her husband and once slapped him in the face, Smith said.

Testimony resumes this morning before Judge Gary S. Mullen.

About the writer:

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