"Babysitting" dad goes on trial for severely abusing infant daughter (Reno, Nevada)

These cases are just becoming numbingly typical. Dad GERALD ESPONOSA is like your typical poster child for Daddy Abusers--an unemployed/unemployable abuser-loser drafted into "babysitting" activities so Mom can work. But of course, these types can't nurture or do child care. When their video games are interrupted by a crying infant, they lash out violently. This child's existence is now, arguably, worse than death. She is essentially in a vegetative state--unable to eat, fixed stare, no response to sights or sounds, can't hold her head up, "disrupted" brain activity. Horrible.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20100706/NEWS01/100706043/-1/CARSON/Trial-begins-in-case-of-Reno-man-accused-of-shaking-his-baby

Trial begins in case of Reno man accused of shaking his baby
By Jaclyn O’Malley • jomalley@rgj.com • July 6, 2010

In the moments before Araceli Andrade left for work on Oct. 29, she recalled her infant girl was healthy, laughing and playing.

But hours later, doctors would inform her that 11-week-old Areli Rubi only had a 20 percent chance of surviving horrific brain injuries received while her father was baby-sitting.

During an examination last week, a pediatric doctor said the now 11-month-old has a fixed stare, disrupted brain activity, and shows no response to sights or sounds. The baby can’t hold her head up, and continues to display primitive infant responses that usually disappears after a few months, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Greco. Baby Areli also relies on a feeding tube in her stomach because she can’t eat, process food, or digest it.

“This little baby girl was the picture of health until Oct. 29,” Greco told jurors hearing evidence Tuesday against Gerardo Espinosa, 19, during his first day of trial in Washoe District Court. “He drove (his wife’s 9-year-old brother) to the bus stop, and then while alone with his daughter, little Areli’s life changed forever. Hours later she would be in critical condition. She was pale, not breathing and was unresponsive.”

Espinosa is charged with child abuse causing substantial bodily harm that occurred in the home he shared with his wife and her family in the 100 block of Foothill Road. He said his daughter suffered critical brain injuries after he tripped over cords from his video game system while carrying her in his arms. He claims she accidentally struck her head against a nearby entertainment system during the tumble.

But Greco said that soon after the infant’s incessant crying disrupted his video game playing, he violently shook the baby several times to quiet her. The evidence, he said, is that the girl’s brain is damaged in many areas, not in an isolated area consistent with a fall. Experts have also said her injuries could not have happened the way Espinosa explained, Greco said.

Court records show that during an interview with sheriff’s deputies, he had given several versions explaining the baby’s injuries. Finally, he admitted to shaking the girl to quiet her cries.

Greco said the girl suffered a skull fracture and bleeding and swelling of the brain. A portion of her skull had to be removed to relieve her brain pressure. Both of her eyes were also damaged during the shaking, he said. She also had to be placed on a ventilator to help her breathe for weeks.

“(Areli) has no response to object and faces,” Greco said of the baby’s recent medical examination. “She has no response to voice, and did not react to a rattle. The doctor shook a rattle in the baby’s ear and she had no reaction.”

Trial is expected to last through Thursday.

Espinosa, authorities said, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who snuck into the country five years ago. Last year, he married Andrade, 20, when she was eight months pregnant. He is unemployed.