We have reported on this case before, but there is still no explanation forthcoming as to how UNNAMED DAD was able to make his girlfriend the legal guardian of his 7-year-old son. If Daddy didn't want the child, why didn't Mom have custody? If Dad left this child with a psycho girlfriend (somebody intent on "revenge" against the mother) and her psycho brother, why isn't he being charged with failure to protect? This is an example of the total double standard in these cases. If Mom's 200 lb. boyfriend beats the baby, and pummels Mom in the process, she's still treated like a pariah and charged accordingly. Not the dudes....
http://www.redding.com/news/2012/apr/09/rachel-limon-trial-begins-today/
Shasta County child abuse trial to start today Cottonwood woman faces life in prison
By Jim Schultz
Record Searchlight
Posted April 9, 2012 at 11:41 p.m.
After numerous delays, a Cottonwood-area woman accused of beating a 7-year-old boy almost to death in 2009 will begin standing trial today in Shasta County Superior Court on criminal charges that could land her in prison for the rest of her life if she's convicted.
Superior Court Judge William Gallagher Monday rejected an 11th-hour effort to relieve Redding defense attorney John Webster as Rachel Ann Limon's lawyer after he met with them for about 30 minutes in a closed courtroom hearing.
Webster told Gallagher he's feeling better after having said last week that he was under the weather. He said in open court following Monday's hearing that Limon and her family have lost confidence in his representation of her, but did not elaborate.
With jury selection scheduled to begin today, Gallagher is hoping the trial will fully get under way on April 17 with opening statements and the presentation of evidence.
That day would be Limon's 30th birthday.
It's estimated that Limon's trial will take between six to eight weeks, but Webster believes it could take much longer due to the high-profile nature of the case and the potential difficulty in seating a jury.
With that in mind, Gallagher said he would entertain a change of venue motion if it becomes clear a jury could not be selected here.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ben Hanna has said it only took four days to pick a jury in the trial of Rachel Limon's 24-year-old brother, Gregory, who was sentenced earlier this year to six years in prison after being convicted of child abuse in connection with the same case.
Gregory Limon is to be returned from High Desert State Prison in Susanville to testify in his sister's defense.
Rachel Limon is charged with attempted murder, torture, aggravated mayhem and child abuse, as well as four related enhancements, in the beating of a child in late 2009.
She was arrested in late 2009 after sheriff's deputies, acting on a tip, went to her Rhonda Road mobile home and found the severely injured child in a bedroom.
Limon, who was the girlfriend of the boy's father, was the child's legal guardian at the time of the alleged beating.
Sheriff's detectives have said she admitted to having caused some of the boy's wounds as a way to get revenge against the boy's biological mother.
Investigators have said the boy — who had 10 broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and liver, two broken vertebrae and a collapsed lung — would have died within a day had he not been treated by a doctor.
Webster has said, however, that some of the boy's reported injuries may have occurred many months earlier and were not at the hands of his client.
Limon has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but Webster said Monday his client may withdraw her insanity plea. He said he has not yet had the opportunity to talk with her about that issue.