DESMOND VALENZUELA - 3 yo (2007) - St. Louis MO

ST. LOUIS -- Nine-year-old Nathaniel "Nate" Robinson Jr. said he woke that day
to the sound of his little brother screaming.

Nate told a St. Louis jury last week he knew his brother, Desmond Valenzuela,
was getting a "whooping" with a belt.

"He was crying really loud," the boy said on the witness stand. Now, Nate
explained, his brother is "in heaven."

On his way out of the courtroom Thursday, Nate smiled and waved at his father,
Nathaniel Robinson, 31, sitting at the defense table, accused of beating to
death the 3-year-old in 2007.

On Monday, Robinson was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and felony abuse
of a child.

Doctors testified that Desmond died after he was violently shaken and suffered
serious blows to the head. Death investigators found new and old bruising on
his face, ears, head, back, shoulders, arms, genitals, legs and hands.

"That is nothing more than torture," said Prosecutor Jeff Coleman during his
closing argument Monday. "That's the kind of punishment that he gave to his own
3-year-old child."

He faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced March 19.

Nathaniel Robinson denied beating his son. He testified that the boy fell while
playing on a slide and then fell again on the kitchen floor the next day when
he suffered a seizure at home.

His mother, Maria Valenzuela, told jurors that the boy was healthy when he went
to live with Robinson and his family about a month before he died.

Leona Robinson, the defendant's wife, told the jury that her husband treated
Desmond differently from their other children. She testified that Nathaniel
Robinson got "furious" when the boy wet his bed. She said she once saw him hold
Desmond upside down by his leg to give him spankings.

Leona said she urged her husband to send the boy back to live with his mother.

Nathaniel Robinson often watched his children while his wife worked. Nate said
his father usually disciplined the boys with spankings to the behind with
either his hand or a belt. He told jurors that he saw his father sometimes pick
up Desmon and shake him.

On July 4 that year, paramedics responded to a report of a seizure at the
family home in the 6000 block of Michigan Avenue.

Desmond went to the hospital in an ambulance. Nathaniel Robinson stayed at home
with his three other children. Once his wife got home from work, he told her
about Desmond and then departed for the hospital. That's when police arrested
him. Desmond died the next day at the hospital.

A St. Louis man is convicted of abusing and killing his son in 2007.
But the jury did not convict him of murder. As the man's mother comes
to his defense, another family says justice was not served. "This is my
grandson, Desmond Valenzuela, four months before he was killed," said
Ruth Valenzuela, holding a framed photo tightly, trying to choke back
tears, "by his father." Valenzuela spoke standing outside her St.
Charles home, with one of her daughters on her left and her sister on
her right. Other members of her family stood near her, all exhausted.

Desmond's father's murder trial had ended just hours before.

"I'm just glad I don't ever have to see his face again," said Monica Valenzuela, Ruth's daughter and Desmond's aunt.

The trial did not end the way Desmond's family wanted.

"I do not think justice was served, no," said Ruth's sister, Roberta Dwyer.

And it did not end the way Nathaniel Robinson's family wanted either. Robinson is Desmond's father.

"I was hoping for everything to come out the best because I know my son
is innocent," said Nathaniel's mother, Patricia. "I know he would never
hurt his child. So I was hoping for him to come home with us today."

In July 2007, Desmond Valenzuela was three years old. Police arrested
Robinson, saying he beat his son inside his south St. Louis home and
did not call for help for more than 12 hours. Desmond survived for 48
hours on life support at Cardinal Glennon hospital, but died July 4.
Prosecutors charged Robinson with child abuse and murder.

Robinson testified during his trial. He claimed Desmond was injured in
a fall from a slide at a park. He said Desmond suffered a seizure the
night after the fall, but appeared alright, so he did not seek medical
attention. He claimed he did call for an ambulance after Desmond
suffered a second seizure hours later.

Jurors had a choice. They could have convicted Robinson of murder, but
instead they convicted him of abuse and involuntary manslaughter,
meaning they believe Robinson did abuse his son, did cause his death,
but did not mean to kill him.

"He is really hurt, really hurt that everybody thinks he killed his
son, like he is a monster or something," said Patricia Robinson. She
said Nathaniel has five other children who have never been abused or
hurt in any kind of way.

The trial was excruciating for both families.

"It was heartbreaking," said Ruth Valenzuela. "I sat for eight hours
listening to the damage he did and the way my grandson was treated.
[Nathaniel] was on the stand and kept calling him, My Des, my Des, my
Des and I lost it and screamed out in court to everybody that he was
not his Des. That was my Des."

Ruth Valenzuela said she wishes the verdict would have been guilty of murder, but she will cope with the outcome.

"I'll accept what we got," she said. "There's a good chance he could
get many, many, many years. As long as he never gets out to hurt
another child, another human being, again, that's the most important
thing."

The child abuse resulting in death conviction could mean 10 to 30 years
or life in prison. For the involuntary manslaughter conviction,
Robinson could receive one to seven years.

"I think he should've gotten murder, because he murdered my nephew,"
said Monica Valenzuela. "There's nothing else to it. There's no
accident, he meant to do what he did, and I think he should've got more
than what he did."

"He's a murderer," she added.

Just hours after the death, Ruth Valenzuela made the decision with
Desmond's mother to donate the little boy's organs. That gesture keeps
her going.

"I received a letter last year at Christmas," she recalled. "A boy
about his age received his liver, and as far as I know he is still
surviving and thriving and growing. So Desmond still grows, he's still
growing, and he saved another child's life."

"Maybe he'll save more with this. If you suspect abuse, tell someone,"
she said, through more tears. "This impacted every single person in my
family. Desmond's mother is lost. She's lost and I can't help her. I
don't know how to help her."