A jury was seated Friday for the third trial for a Coachella man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
Jorge Melchor Castro, 34, is accused of inflicting fatal injuries on Patricia Duarn on the night of April 5, 2013, or early the following morning.
The girl was under Castro’s care while his girlfriend was at work. The toddler’s mother found her unresponsive after trying to wake her, according to prosecutors, who said she suffered a fractured skull, subdural hemorrhage and extensive bruising to her head. The toddler died at Loma Linda University Medical Center on April 7.
Castro, who is charged with second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death, was tried twice in 2016, with both juries unable to reach verdicts on either count. Opening statements in his latest trial are scheduled for Monday morning at the Banning Justice Center.
Castro told deputies he took the girl to relatives’ homes, a park and a 99-cent store on the night of April 5, before returning to their Coachella home and putting her to bed sometime after midnight. Family members who saw the child that night reported seeing no injuries of any kind.
Castro also phoned his girlfriend after midnight to say her daughter had urinated in her bed. During a telephone conversation with her child, Castro’s girlfriend did not report noticing anything unusual.
Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao alleged during Castro’s second trial at the Indio courthouse that he beat the girl that night because he was “frustrated, drunk, and she was crying.”
According to the prosecutor, Castro put the girl to bed on her left side to purposely conceal the bruise on the left side of her cheek and dissuaded her mother from checking on her that night after she came back from work.
“A little girl doesn’t go to bed and wake up like this,” Paixao said, referring to photographs of the girl’s injuries. “She didn’t just collapse on her own. Patty was murdered.”
Castro’s attorney, Marvin Vallejo, told jurors that the girl’s death was “a tragedy,” but “One tragedy does not cure another tragedy. Wrongfully convicting Mr. Castro would be a tragedy.”
Vallejo said that suspicion against his client did not arise until a pair of doctors in December 2013 said the girl exhibited impacts from blows on both sides of her head, consistent with child abuse. He contended the physicians were too steadfast in believing the injuries were intentionally inflicted, as previous doctors involved in the case said abusive head trauma was possible, but did not rule out the possibility of an accidental death.
While Vallejo did not offer an explanation for the girl’s death, he said that just because Castro was with the child that night did not mean he killed her.
Vallejo suggested the toddler may have been sick prior to her death and that the excessive bleeding and bruising she displayed could have been exacerbated by a heart condition.
Paixao shot down the theory, saying no evidence showed the girl having an enlarged heart, congenital heart defect or any other related condition.
Castro remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.