"Baby David" CORONADO - 5 Months (2008) - Dallas TX

It took jurors only about 30 minutes to sentence 26-year-old David Coronado
to life in prison for child abuse. But first, they met his son.A
nurse introduced the now-2-year-old child to tearful jurors on Friday.
"Baby David" was left blind, deaf and paralyzed after his father's hands
severed his spinal cord in December 2008.Jurors
shook their heads as they looked at the sleeping child in his
wheelchair. One juror began rocking in her seat as soon as she saw
David, dressed in a blue shirt, jeans and white socks. The boy is not
expected to live into adulthood.Doctors
say he was 5 months old when he was either shaken or hit with or
against something. Coronado denied hurting the baby. The child's mother
faces trial later.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Jury-meets-injured-child-before-sentencing-father-1319834.php

UPDATE 4/18/09

– According to a doctor’s testimony day before yesterday, the prognosis for little David is not as good as we would have hoped. In foster care, he does breathe on his own, but he must eat through a surgically implanted tube and is constantly at risk of choking to death on his own saliva, Dr. Matthew Cox told the court. Further, he’s neurologically very limited and does not respond to his environment. Dr. Cox thinks it is likely that little David will only live a few years.

David Coronado Sr. and Ruthy Chabolla remain in the Dallas County Jail.

Results are pending on whether the teeth marks found on little David match either of his parent’s teeth.


David Coronado, Jr.

Dallas, TX – This past July 19, David Coronado, Sr. and Ruthy Chabolla celebrated the birth of David Jr. Although full-term, he weighed a mere 4 pounds, 5 ounces. He seemed to do well, however, as he appeared relatively fit at a December 1 doctor visit and weighed over 7 pounds.

Less than a month later, little David had lost several ounces and was on life support at Children’s Medical Center in a condition described in a court document as “neurologically devastated,” while his parents had been arrested for what CPS has termed “long-term, extensive physical abuse to their only infant son.” Last Monday, David Jr.’s court-appointed guardian filed a motion asking that doctors be permitted to remove the infant from life support.

Hindshight’s always 20/20, isn’t it? If you look at the photos posted in the two MySpace profiles referenced above, you’ll find quite a few pics of baby David. He has a really cute face. He has really cute clothes. He has really cute accessories. And in not a single photo is he smiling.

Let me give you a rundown on what the doctors observed when examining the 6-month-old infant:

• Brain and spinal cord injuries.
  
• Skeletal injuries. Like, 42 of them.
  
• Injuries to his hands and feet suggesting they had been pulled, twisted, and crushed.
  
• Bruises and apparent human bite marks.
  
• One finger appeared to have bitten to the bone; another had lost a nail to some unknown trauma.
  

According to the boy’s father, the chain of events that led to a trip to the hospital began on December 17th, when he noticed his son acting fussy and crying unusually in the baby swing. Coronado reported that he picked the baby up, patted him, then put him down in his crib, where he went to sleep. Several hours later, Coronado said, the baby awoke crying, so he changed and fed him, but David Jr. vomited and stopped breathing. It was at this point that Coronado and Chabolla took him to Methodist Dallas Medical Center, where staff revived him and rushed him to Children’s Medical Center. It was there that doctors discovered the boy’s many and extensive injuries.

According to Coronado Sr. and Chabolla, they did not–and would never–injure their son–at least, not intentionally, of course. To hear them tell it, though, the child has never been right, as David Jr. was prone to breathing difficulties and “blank stares.”

The “bite marks” on his feet? Why, that was caused by him rubbing them together, Mommy said. The bruises up and down his sides? Those damned buttons on his onesies, Mommy asserted. She did admit that there may have been times she had bitten her son “in a playful manner” and that the boy’s father could possibly have struck his son in his sleep while dreaming of fighting. As for the 6’3″ 260-pound Coronado, he indicated it was conceivable he had picked the baby up “too hard” in the night. But again, no way would either of them ever intentionally harm the infant!

David Coronado, Sr. & Ruthy Chabolla

Police apparently are not persuaded by these arguments, as they arrested Coronado and Chabolla on December 23. They remain in Dallas County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.The decision regarding whether baby David will be removed from life support could be made as early as this week.

Mother of boy left paralyzed, blind and deaf by abuse pleads guilty in exchange for 30-year sentence
Apr. 14, 2011

This morning the mother of a child left paralyzed, blind and deaf by his father's hands pled guilty for not stopping the abuse in exchange for a 30-year sentence. The child is not expected to live to adultgood.

The father of the boy was sentenced to life in prison in March.

Ruthy Chabolla, 24, stood before State District Judge Mark Stoltz in a county jail green and gray striped uniform.

When Stoltz asked if she was pleading guilty, Chabolla sighed deeply and nodded her head.

"Yes?" asked the judge.

"Yes," she replied.

After she walked away from the judge, Chabolla began crying, bemoaning her sentence to her defense attorney, Debbie Sanchez.

Many of her words were barely audible but she exclaimed "my minimum was five."

The child has been adopted since his father severed his spinal cord in December 2008 by either shaking him violently and hitting him with or against an object. The baby also had numerous bite marks and fractures.

The child was 5-months old when he was injured. He is now 2.

The spokeswoman for Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, Jamille Bradfield, declined to comment on the case. Prosecutors are not allowed to comment on cases without permission.


http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/child-abuse/