BOY'S DEATH NO ACCIDENT, EXAMINER TESTIFIES.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer A deputy medical examiner A public official charged with investigating all sudden, suspicious, unexplained, or unnatural deaths within the area of his or her appointed jurisdiction. A medical examiner differs from a Coroner in that a medical examiner is a physician. testified Wednesday that 19-month-old Julio Gonzalez died Dec. 29 from trauma to the head caused by another person. ``In my opinion it was not accidental,'' Dr. Susan Selser said during a preliminary hearing in Glendale Municipal Court. ``There are multiple injuries including head trauma. Certainly the head trauma is fatal.'' The child's foster parents, Maria and Fernando Paz, are facing murder charges in connection with death. Both have entered not guilty pleas. Selser described bruises all over the boy's body, saying there were external and internal injuries to his head, eyes, lips, face, back and right knee. Further, she said some of the injuries were consistent with ``shaken baby syndrome Shaken Baby Syndrome Definition Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a collective term for the internal head injuries a baby or young child sustains from being violently shaken. ,'' which can cause death in children who have had their heads shaken back and forth at great velocity. At the couple's arraignment A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted in January, Fernando Paz's lawyer, H. Russell Halpern, said the child lost consciousness while choking on a carrot and that Fernando Paz tried to save him using CPR Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Definition Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a procedure to support and maintain breathing and circulation for a person who has stopped breathing (respiratory arrest) and/or whose heart has stopped (cardiac . Halpern asked Selser on Wednesday whether mild shaking could cause the type of injuries Gonzalez suffered. The medical examiner said it was unlikely. Officials with the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Department of Children and Family Services have described the couple as model foster parents prior to their arrest. Julio and his twin brother, Alberto, were visited by social workers from the Linden Linden, city, United States Linden, city (1990 pop. 36,701), Union co., NE N.J., in the New York metropolitan area; inc. 1925. During the first half of the 20th cent. Center, a nonprofit agency that provides foster care service for the county, on a regular basis, officials have said. Nine days before the boy's death, however, a social worker noted one bruise on his cheek, county officials have said. Glendale Municipal Court Judge Barbara Burke Barbara Hannah Anita Burke (born 13 May, 1917) is a former British athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She competed for Great Britain in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany in the 4 x 100 metres where she won the silver medal with her team mates is expected to decide today whether the couple should be bound over for trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. On Tuesday, police officers testified that the couple told them separately that they had never beaten Julio. The couple are being held on a $585,000 bond. Their two biological children have been placed in foster care. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Maria Paz, left, and her husband, Fernando, right, hear translations of their hearing Wednesday on charges they beat a foster child to death. David R. Crane/Daily News |
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