"Tommy" PRESTON - 7 Months (2008) - Anza/Riverside Cty CA

A seven-woman, five-man jury took just three hours to find an
Anza man guilty of murdering his girlfriend's 7-month-old son.
Daniel Joe Farnum, 30, showed no emotion as the clerk in a
Southwest Justice Center courtroom read guilty verdicts on two
counts: on for second degree murder, the other for child abuse resulting in death.
The murder took place in November 2008 in Delice "Sharon" Preston's rural Anza home.
After the trial, jurors ---- all who declined to give their
names ---- said a taped interview of Farnum's own daughter, who was
4 at the time, was the key in convicting the man of the crimes.
In that interview, conducted several days after the killing, the
little girl said her dad was mad and that she had seen him shake and hurt the baby.
Before beginning deliberations late Tuesday afternoon, members
of the jury said they held a moment of silence for the infant they had come to know as "Tommy."
"We were 12 people who really wanted to remember the little boy's life," said one juror.
Deliberations resumed Wednesday morning and the verdicts were finalized soon after, a juror said.
"Everybody believed he did it," one juror said. "(Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Garcia) proved her case."
The decision was read in Judge Albert Wojcik's courtroom just before noon.
Investigators said Farnum and Preston had been dating for
several months and that they were both at Preston's home on Apple Road on Nov. 10, 2008.
Preston left in the afternoon to get groceries, leaving Farnum
and his two children ---- the 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy ---- at the home with her baby.
Preston said that when she returned, Farnum went to check on the
infant, who slept in a crib in the master bedroom, and yelled to
her that the infant was not breathing.
Farnum performed CPR and emergency crews were called. The infant
was flown to Inland Valley Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
However, jurors said they were convinced by the girl's taped
interview and the now 6-year-old girl's testimony on the witness
stand, and by the testimony of a forensic pathologist, that the
child had been killed by Farnum while Preston was gone.
The pathologist, who also performed the autopsy on the infant,
said the force exerted to cause the fatal injuries ---- which
included a fractured skull, external bruising of the skull and a
large subdural hemorrhage ---- were consistent with the child's
head being slammed against a hard object, such as the side of a
crib, and could only have been caused by an adult.
Jurors said they believed Farnum killed the infant and then
placed him back in the crib, yelling out to Preston that the baby
was not breathing after she arrived to cover his crime.
Garcia said she also believed the young girl's testimony convinced jurors of Farnum's guilt.
"She described things that a 4-year-old would have no concept
of," Garcia said. "Things like shaking the baby and hurting the baby."
Farnum is scheduled to return to Wojcik's courtroom on Oct. 28,
at which time he could face a sentence of life in prison.

Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/article_28fa3182-a229-5ab2-bcec-557d6a6eff0e.html#ixzz1ZJGdLAmb