UPDATE: Leticia Castro
Plea In Baby Death Spares Mom Retrial
from the article in the dailybreeze.com 08/05/2008
A mother tried on a murder charge last year after giving birth to a baby girl aboard a Catalina ferry and stuffing her into a small trash bin pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter Tuesday. In exchange for Leticia Castro’s plea, the mother of one was sentenced to five years of probation and must undergo child abuse counseling courses, said Jane Robison, a Los Angeles County district attorney’s spokeswoman.
The Catalina Island resident was acquitted of first-degree murder in December 2007 but the jury deadlocked on involuntary manslaughter.
After two days of deliberations, jurors said they were not convinced the 6-pound newborn was alive when Castro squeezed her into a 4-inch-wide trash can for paper towels in the bathroom of a Catalina Express boat in September 2004.
Jurors also were torn over whether Castro intended to kill the child or simply acted in a state of shock and panic.
The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of guilt on the involuntary manslaughter charge, forcing Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gary Ferrari to declare a mistrial on that count.
Prosecutors announced in January they planned to retry Castro for involuntary manslaughter and that trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday, Robison said.
Castro’s plea spared her, as well as her friends and family, from an emotionally charged repeat of the first trial, which included graphic testimony from coroner’s investigators, photos of the dead infant
and painful personal details about the baby’s conception and birth.
The now 31-year-old had attended a Chamber of Commerce dinner with her co-workers and boss – who is married to her cousin – when she excused herself and went to the ship’s bathroom the night of the baby’s birth.
Castro insisted throughout her trial that she did not know she gave birth to a baby; she thought she had passed a blood clot.
Defense attorney Jay Glaser said Tuesday that his client chose to enter the plea to avoid further emotional trauma.
“I think the most significant factor was she didn’t want to go through the trial again, seeing the pictures of the baby,” he said.
“She wants to go back to her life on the island,” where she has her 9-year-old daughter, the rest of her family and her job, Glaser said.
end of article
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Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch! I don’t know who I want to kick the fucking shit out of more.
First off, we have this fucking bitch, Leticia Castro, who knew she gave birth to a poor tiny defenseless baby, but refused to do a thing to help it or to take any responsibility for it.
Then there’s the married man who impregnated her, then apparently refused to take any responsibility for the baby. It’s was fun to fool around with Leticia, but when she got to be a hassle she got kicked to the curb.
And, of course, how can we forget the jury, who could not believe that a full term baby could live even a short amount of time, thereby eliminating the first degree murder charge against Leticia, and managed to hang on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
And last but not least, lets have a big hand for the prosecution, who ends off this whole heartbreaker of a tragedy in style by offering Leticia a sweetheart deal with NO JAIL TIME.
I can’t stand any more of this story right now….There’s just too many failures of too many people, and too many good people feeling they should have done more (because they care), even though it would have been useless, or how could they have known anyway. So life goes on, another baby killer walks, and I shed a couple of more tears for some child I don’t even know. But I’m OK with that, because that’s part of what separates me from assholes like Leticia Castro.
31 Comments »
I am sure that when she placed the “blood clot” in the garbage she must have realized at that point the blood clot was in fact a BABY. 5 years PROBATION for throwing your baby in the garbage! How sad that we place such little value on american children.
I agree, not limiting to American children but all children..FFS..even Helen Keller could tell the difference between a baby and a blood clot…
Your post says it all…what a bitch!
The system sucks.
Just wait till Urkel takes over on 20 Jan. We will see more like this disgusting cunt. Urkel will piss and moan and sob and make excuses.
But we have Hope for [spare]Change don’t we?
I hate the new format. It’s the author’s job to present the facts in a sarcastic, light-hearted, horrifyingly glib way, and all of our jobs to cry out in horror in the comments section. The author crying out in horror just throws the whole thing off.
If this doesn’t shape up, I swear to god I will start making sarcastic, light-hearted, horrifyingly glib remarks in the comments section. AND YOU DON’T WANT THAT
Yes we do. Look we all read and hear about stories like this one. It is really frustraiting, for me at least, because I am a father. I was there when my wonderful perfect daughter was born. I wittnessed the miricle that is my daughter. Then to have to sit back and do NOTHING about this sensless act of savagry….
Shall I post what I would love to do to this spinless useless cunt? Amy?
Go for it Mulch…get it off your chest.
I’m sorry Danielle, I try to be sarcastic and silly, but when I get a case like this, It just wont happen for me. I just get mad, and I cry a little, and these stories are what I end up with.
Why don’t you send in a story? I sense you’re a good writer with a sharp mind and sense of humor. I’d at least like to see something you’ve written, so I can judge for myself.
I think the post was fine, Max. I agree, let’s see something Danielle wrote.
Actually Max, I think I may submit a story. Where do I send it?
admin@pysih.com, and cc a copy to maxwellfeline@hotmail.com. One of us will take a look at it and post it when there’s room. I actually have a minor backlog of material to edit right now, and that’s a very good thing. Keep it coming folks
Even if the baby had been still born, she still would have known it was a baby.
For those that dont know, heres a few things to check when you pass a blood clot.
1. Does it cry?
2. Does it have arms…legs?
3. Is it attached to you by a thick cord? ( this is the umbillical cord)
4. Do you have to life it with both hands to throw it in the trash?
If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, then most likely, you have given birth.
Call 911 or 000, depending of course on which country you reside in, and PLEASE…refrain from tossing it in the garbage. Just because YOU dont want the baby, does not mean it is not wanted by someone.
Bless you Amy. I am sure you are a GREAT mother. I can see you are a wonderful person.
Stories like this make me cry. They make me sick that people are so selfish and cruel. The Jurer that couldn’t decide should be hung.
What is wrong with people? The gift of life tossed in to a fucking trash can?
I need to puke.
Will do Amy!
Putthe cunt in to a room with no window, no chair bed or anything else but a 100W bare light bulb. Cement floors and walls. No heat only cold hard concrete.
force her to strip. Never once laying a finger on her force her to strip. This destroys a woman’s pride. Leave her in the room for 3 days. When she falls assleep leave her for exactly 5 min and then wake her up by throwing ice water on her.
On the third day give her rotten fruit to eat and piss to drink. Trust me she will weat and drink.
When she has had her fill punch her in the gut. Take her from the room and strap her to a stainless steel table. Using a dull rusty knife start making small shallow cuts on her face. Show her the demange over and over again. Break her spirit.
Rip off her fingernails and clense the wounds with piss.
Take a bamboo cane and beat the soles of her feet untill they are swollen and black.
Rip out her toe nails. Bath her in saltwater.
Skin her starting at her stomach. Use a dull rusty knife.
When all is said and done throw her inthe street to die.
See…dont ya feel better now;)
Mam yes mam.
Ew. That’s grusome. I like it!
What is more grusome, giving birth to a child and tossing it in a trash can or dishing out justice?
I believe she is lying. If it was a large blood clot, she would have just flushed it, not put it in the trash. By carrying it to the trash, she assumably “inspected” it and knew good and well what it was. I am guess the baby was too large to flush or she would have done it. Why are these hung juries always 11 – 1? Maybe the 1 thought they were doing the right thing like that old “Happy Days” episode where Fonzie held out because he just knew the guy was innocent. In this case, I believe it was more of a pay off or some incentive for that one juror to hold out. Too bad jurors can’t kick the crap out of stupid jurors.
There are no words…
I really don’t think it is okay for people to claim stupidity as a defense. It is amazing to me that this woman will see no jail time. How sad.
Can we please go back to voting whether or not the person deserves to go to hell? That is so cathartic.
Also, has anyone done a story on Joseph Edward Duncan III, who bludgeoned to death a little girl’s mother, the mother’s boyfriend, the girl’s oldest brother, then took the girl and her other brother into the woods and tortured and molested them for 3 weeks before killing the boy?
I havent even heard that story…now im gonna have to go look it up.
that was the guy who sexually abused the groene children, correct?
Yup thats the one. Killed their mother, her b/f and their older brother and molested the two children. The boy is still missing, although they found human remains that the have every reason to believe is Dylan.
A blood clot???? A fucking BLOOD CLOT?!?!?!?!? How the hell could you think that was a BLOOD CLOT???? I know what my vagina felt like after my kid was born and there is NO WAY that it felt like no more than a GIANT BLOOD CLOT had come out! Of all the fucked up “excuses”. . .Not only that, but if a blood clot THAT BIG fell out of your body don’t you think you would get help?????? Hello????
The woman is full of shit and not only does she have a 9 year old so we know she experienced child birth but she took the whole frickin’ justice system for a ride. The jurors were all fucked in the head.
Five years of probation and counseling?????
ARRGGGHH!!! If they’re not going to send her to prison, then they should require that she get a hysterectomy so that she’s not capable of bringing another life into the world.
my stomach hurts-glib comments won’t bandage the outrageous obscenity of this injustice. I am mother of two grown women: the youngest a successful businesswoman with a good life, what I always dreamed of for both of them…the other, a lazy welfare momma with three kids by a sex offender(he was 26 girl was 15-HE got the 7yr old after he did two yrs in jail-a real jobless prince of a fellow) who beat her a few weeks ago-she left him for two weeks, then went back. Someone called cps on her, of course she thinks it was me (and it should have been-I called the police to check on them a few days ago, she’s too ashamed to speak to me after I caught them shopping together, I was worried) The kids were with us after the police called me to come get them, she didn’t get a lot of clothes for them, so I bought them new things, but evidently when the polce cked on her, cps was called.
They are not being physically abused, but obviously she neglects their needs (1yr, 3yrs, and 4 yrs-with pedophile daddy’s 7 yr old-all that have teeth have cavities) The night of the fight, they got to my home at 10 pm and hadn’t had supper (I did call about that) and emotionally- I know the 4 yr old told me he “wanted to stab his father for beating his mother”-I do not know how I could have two so very different daughters. I am so ashamed of her I wish I could die-but staying alive will enable me to help my grandkids when this reaches a crescendo-and it look as though that will happen soon.
There are lots of ways to hurt children-these kids break my heart…a 4 yr old wanting to stab his father-and are they being sexually abused? Sadly, I doubt as if my gutless daughter would protect them.
So my stomach hurts-I don’t know if it’s the generation, my youngest daughter is a wonderful mother, she and her husband are expecting their second in February and they’re wonderful to watch.
Then you look at the other…and you want to tear your eyes out, these poor babies are being raised in hopelessness and anxiety. I have, in the past, called in on her-results: I didn’t see my grandkids for a year, paid $3000 to a useless lawyer to get visitation-only to find that when she wanted money from me, I’d see the kids.
I drop their Christmas presents late Christmas eve so they can have Santa every year. Jobless pedophile doesn’t even say thank you (remember, he’s some sort of prince)
I hate my own daughter. My stomach hurts-and I had colon cancer, and bladder cancer last year-this bitch is literally killing me.
I can’t tell you the horror it is to live with the fact that you brought a jellyfish like this into the world-she got a CNA license after I told her I may not be alive much longer to save her sorry ass. She had a job two weeks ago, she probably gave it up when she went back…
I hate her for wallering with pedophile garbage and subjecting 4 kids to her self destruction. I hate her for making me ashamed. I hate her for being such a manipulative “victim” that she cleared out when she’d gotten what she wanted from me (my husband and I pay for everything that welfare doesn’t.) I hate that my illness didn’t evoke any mercy-all I want is for those kids to be safe and cared for, and away from pedophile and his toothless family.
Her sister wants nothing to do with her, but she sends presents to the kids.
I hate that I can’t even blame this on drugs, they don’t even drink-this is just pure sloth.
I hate peole who hurt kids, even if it’s just being too lazy to read to them, make them brush their teeth, keeping their clothes clean, keeping them away from someone who the state demands registry for a sex offense-so is obviously not who you would want to have 3 children by.
I want to puke-I think the world IS ending….I had hopes (again, dashed) that she was finally turning her life around, getting rid of the scum, turning to her children and really focusing-my heart fell through when I realized I’d been duped and pedophile is smiling at me like “ha I won” when I saw them at the store-and my grandkids ran to me and hugged me-knowing I won’t see them for a looooooooong time ( I’ve been getting them on my weekends off)
I hate that this is a pretty common story, a lot of grannies, wiser ones than me-are living this everywhere. Shit’s just bad enough to worry you, they investigate, but it’s not bad enough to do anything about…
I hate that my babies are probably not going to get help until they’re abused “enough” and a crisis occurs-and maybe this is it-or maybe they’ll clean up until they’re off the radar again.
Or maybe we’ll read about them some day…
My stomach hurts.
I’m glad whoever called this time did and I’m sorry I didn’t.
Laurie i am sooo sorry for your pain and i can relate completely. With out getting into to much detail, my brother had a child w/ a girl that was only 16 yrs old and she and her entire family and complete nut jobs. My brother is in and out of jail and so to be in my nephews life i tolerated her, i pretended to be her friend. I took her in when her family kicked her out, my family took her in several times as well. It took me 11 years of fighting for him until i finally brought him home. I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights i spent crying and praying but God does answer your prayers. I agree w/ you about the system. As you can see by reading all of these stories, the system fails the children so much. One of the times i called children and youth on my nephews mom for beating him senseless ( had the pictures to prove it) they told me that he would have to be physically impaired or in excrusiating pain before they could take him from her. I was speechless and still to this day am when i think of that phone call. i spent thousands and thousands of dollars on lawyers that did nothing but it all turned around when i found a wonderful lawyer and a judge that took on our case. WEll my nephew came home for good to me on Nov. 10th, 2008. it will be a long road to nurse all of his pains that was caused by the ones who were to love him most. What i have going for me is a strong support system, the trust that a child should have for their care giver and a strong will to see this child turns into a strong positive young man. Never give up hope Laurie when it comes to children. there were countless times where i was ready to give up and to be honest, i did for a small amount of time but all i had to do was think of him and what he could be going through and it motivated me to fight even harder. Let me tell you, everyone in children and youth, probation, public defenders knew my name. i called everyone and their bosses boss. i never gave up and he is home, safe and sound for good now due to those efforts. You will find someone that will listen to you and i will pray for you and your family!!! Those children are lucky to have you, you are their light and looks like their only hope! go fight for your babies!!!! They need you.
I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe this dumb bitch actually thought a six pound thing with arms/legs/and an umbilical cord was just a “blood clot.” It’s a piss poor excuse and fuck anyone who bought it and let her off.