DYLAN BLOUNT-CHAMBERS - 4 yo - (2010) Blue Lake (North Coast) CA

The Blue Lake man being held in custody for the murder of a 4-year-old boy
is scheduled to be arraigned in court today. The
Humboldt County District Attorney's Office said that Leon Alyious
Bigleggins will be charged with second-degree murder and felony child
abuse, based on initial reports from the Humboldt County Sheriff's
Office. Bigleggins is accused of murdering Dylan Blount-Chambers, the
young boy he was put in charge of baby-sitting while his grandmother was working.


Bigleggins, 25, was arrested after detectives served a
search warrant at a house on Sabertooth Road near Titlow Hill on Sunday
afternoon -- the house where Dylan was spending the summer. Dylan's
grandmother Donna Blount reportedly found the child having difficulty
breathing late Saturday night. Blount called an ambulance and
the boy was transported to Mad River Community Hospital, where he was
pronounced dead at 11 p.m. The child's body had signs of ongoing abuse,
the Sheriff's Office reported, with severe bruising that prompted
detectives to investigate further. According to family members,
Blount would leave Dylan with Bigleggins when she would go to work. The
sheriff's office said Bigleggins is the only suspect in the case at
this point, and that interviews with the family would continue this
week. An autopsy for Dylan's body is underway, and should be
completed in the coming weeks. Humboldt County coroner Dave Parris said
that it will be a while before a final report is in. ”When you're talking about
a case of this magnitude it will take some time before we get answers.”

The autopsy on Dylan
Blount-Chambers was completed last week, but the Humboldt County Coroner
said that additional work needs to be done before the body is released
and the family can hold a funeral for Dylan. ”Because of the
extent of the injuries we've had to do a multitude of X-rays and CAT
scans,” said Coroner Dave Parris. “We want to be able to get a perfect
picture of what happened.” Parris said that the body could be
released as soon as today, when the family had planned to hold a funeral
for the 4-year-old boy. In the meantime, officials said that the
investigation into the murder is ongoing. The Humboldt County
Sheriff's Office would not comment on specifics of the investigation,
other than to say that detectives returned to the house where Dylan was
murdered, and that interviews with family members were ongoing. Leon
Alyious Bigleggins, 25, is scheduled to be back in court next week for
an intervention hearing. He currently faces charges of murder, felony
child abuse and assault on a child.

The preliminary hearing
for a Blue Lake man accused of murdering a 4-year-old boy was postponed
Tuesday, as an autopsy report on the boy's remains has not been
completed. Leon Alyious Bigleggins, 25, was arrested July 25 on
suspicion of having murdered Dylan Blount-Chambers, the 4-year-old
grandson of Bigleggins' girlfriend. Bigleggins -- a beginning mixed
martial arts fighter -- has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder,
felony child abuse and assault on a child. Tuesday, Bigleggins
appeared in court with his hands shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit
as his attorney, alternate conflict counsel David Lee, requested a
continuance of the defendant's preliminary hearing -- a kind of
mini-trial held to determine if there is enough evidence to hold a
defendant for a jury trial. Lee said he and Deputy District Attorney
Kelly Neel, who is prosecuting the case, mutually agreed on the
continuance as both sides are still waiting for an autopsy report from
forensic pathologist Mark Super, who examined Blount-Chambers' remains
last month. Humboldt County Coroner Dave Parris said Tuesday
that Super may give Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos an
oral presentation of his findings later this week, but couldn't say when
the doctor would complete his written report. Parris said
Super is keenly aware that his report will be extremely important to the
court case, noting that the doctor has performed a barrage of tests as a
part of the examination.
Meanwhile, Humboldt
County Sheriff's detective Cheryl Franco, the lead investigator on the
case, said she is still working on the investigation, but added that
Bigleggins remains the only suspect. ”We're almost done with
our entire investigation -- we just feel like we have a few more
interviews to do,” she said, adding that once the interviews are
complete she will write up her investigation report to turn over to the
district attorney's office. Dylan's grandmother, Donna Ray
Blount, reportedly found him having trouble breathing late on the night
of July 24 and called an ambulance. The boy was transported to Mad River
Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. Franco said the boy's body showed signs of ongoing abuse. ”There
were signs of obvious child abuse based on the pattern of bruising,”
she said. “They were not typical play bruises. It was obvious.” The
boy's mother, Tracy Blount, said that her son was staying at his grandmother's house for the
summer. She said that Bigleggins was dating her mother, Donna Ray
Blount, and that the man would watch Dylan while Donna Ray Blount was
working. Tracy Blount remarked that she felt comfortable with Bigleggins watching over her son. ”Dylan loved him,” she said. Bigleggins is scheduled to return to Humboldt County Superior Court Aug. 30 for a status conference.

The Humboldt County Court case of a Blue Lake man accused of murder is still on hold, awaiting an autopsy report. Leon Alyious Bigleggins, 25, was arrested on July 25 on suspicion of having murdered Dylan Blount-Chambers, the 4-year-old grandson of Bigleggins' girlfriend who was left in Bigleggins' care. Bigleggins -- a beginning mixed martial arts fighter -- has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, felony child abuse and assault on a child. Monday, Deputy District Attorney Allan Dollison confirmed that an autopsy report by forensic pathologist Mark Super has yet to be completed in the case, and said the court set another hearing for Oct. 6. The autopsy was performed in July, but attorneys in the case are still awaiting Super's written report. On his way out of the courtroom Monday, Bigleggins reportedly raised a middle finger to the court audience and received a stern rebuke from the bailiff, according to several people in attendance during the hearing. Dollison declined to comment on the incident.

On his way out of the courtroom Monday, Bigleggins reportedly raised a middle finger to the court audience and received a stern rebuke from the bailiff

Bailiff, you have my permission to remove that finger...from the courtroom.

Court proceedings in child murder case edge forward



11/20/2010
A preliminary hearing for the man accused of killing a 4-year-old boy outside Blue Lake this summer has been pushed back again.
The prosecution is now scheduled to lay out its case against 25-year-old Leon Alyious Bigleggins on Dec. 15 in a hearing that could take two days. In Humboldt County Superior Court on Friday, public defender David Lee said that he had received a substantial amount of discovery earlier this week, including the autopsy report on Dylan Blount-Chambers.
Lee said that he needs to give an expert time to review the material, and said he would not know whether that expert will testify at the hearing until after he's had a chance to look at the review.
Bigleggins allegedly killed Blount-Chambers, who was staying with his grandmother, who was also Bigleggins' girlfriend, at a residence near Titlow Hill in July.
The autopsy report found that the boy died from blunt-force trauma to his head and stomach, according to the Humboldt County Coroner's Office. Bigleggins has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, assault on a child and felony child abuse.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_16666507?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com

There is sufficient
evidence to hold 26-year-old Leon Alyious Bigleggins to answer to
allegations that he murdered the 4-year-old grandson of his
ex-girlfriend, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Following a two-day
preliminary hearing that began Monday, Humboldt County Superior Court
Judge Christopher Wilson found prosecutors presented enough evidence to
hold Bigleggins to stand trial on charges of murder and two counts of
child abuse relating to the death of Dylan Blount-Chambers on July 24,
2010. If convicted on all counts, Bigleggins could face life in prison.

In his closing argument, Bigleggins' defense attorney David Lee
said that the disciplinary actions described by witnesses were clearly
not the mechanisms of death that killed Dylan.
”The question
is: Do the people put forward enough evidence that Dylan died at the
hands of Mr. Bigleggins?” he said. “There is no evidence that he did.”

Lee also argued that corporal punishment does not always constitute child abuse.
Regardless
of the type of disciplinary action taken, District Attorney Paul
Gallegos argued that Bigleggins' was not Dylan's father and consequently
had no legal right to inflict corporal punishment upon the child. He
pointed to incidents described by witnesses, saying Bigleggins' actions
were inappropriate punishments for a 4-year-old boy.
”We, the people, believe Dylan was unlawfully killed,” Gallegos said, describing the kicking and striking of the 4-year-old as
inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering. “The squats, spanking with
the hanger and kicking all indicates Bigleggins' desire to injure this
child enough to send a message.”
Donna Blount, Dylan's grandmother
and Bigleggins' ex-girlfriend, testified Monday and Tuesday, tearfully
laying out the events leading to Dylan's death.
According to
Blount, it was Bigleggins' idea that Dylan spend the summer with them in
their trailer off Sabertooth Road near Blue Lake. Blount said
Bigleggins was training to become a mixed-martial arts fighter and had
developed a relationship with the boy while staying at Blount's
daughter's house in Freshwater.
Blount said she and a cousin
went to pick-up the 4-year-old -- who brought with him a backpack and
plastic bag filled with his clothes -- from his mother's house on July
3, 2010. To make room for Dylan in the small trailer, Blount said she
and Bigleggins slept together on the couch while Dylan slept on the
bench seat attached to the kitchen table. Because the shower in the
trailer was broken, Blount said Dylan was bathed in a “turtle wading
pool outside the trailer.”
According to Blount, from the day
Dylan came to stay with the couple, up until his death 21 days later,
Bigleggins served as the boy's primary caretaker while Blount was
working.
”Leon took total control of clothing him, bathing him,
teaching him his ABCs and apparently abusing him,” she said, explaining
that she worked seven days a week, from 6 a.m. until sometimes as late
at 9 p.m.
During the weeks prior to his death, Blount said she
never noticed the injuries documented by forensic pathologist Mark
Super in his testimony Monday.
Super, who performed the
autopsy on Dylan, said the official cause of Dylan's death was blunt
force trauma to the abdomen or head that occurred on or around July 24,
2010, but in photo after photo taken during the autopsy, he also pointed
out extensive bruising covering the boy's body.
”These would
be significant bruises that would catch your attention,” Super said,
referencing the bruises and abrasions covering the boy's groin,
buttocks, abdomen, the palms of his hands and the tops of his feet.
When
questioned about the bruising, Blount described two incidents where
Bigleggins' used excessive force with Dylan, but said neither could have
caused the injuries shown in the photos. In the first incident, Blount
said Bigleggins swatted Dylan on the backside after the 4-year-old
“mouthed off,” leaving hand prints on the boy's buttocks. In the second
incident, Blount said Bigleggins “grabbed hold of his arm, jerked him
and pulled him to the ground.” In both cases, Blount said she told
Bigleggins to stop and that “Dylan did not come from a family that
spanked him.”
When asked why Blount did not inspect the boy for
further bruising following the incidents, Blount said she didn't think
she needed to.
”I didn't think there was any reason to examine Dylan,” she said. “I assumed that he (Bigleggins) wasn't hitting him.”
In addition to Blount, Michael Ayer was also called to testify during Tuesday's preliminary hearing.
Ayer, who has a 2-year-old son of his own, became friends with Bigleggins in early July.
He
said he would spend the mornings and evenings -- when he didn't have to
work -- with Bigleggins and Dylan. Ayer said Bigleggins and Dylan “did
good together” and that Dylan referred to Bigleggins as his grandpa.

”He (Dylan) was attached to him,” Ayer said, of the relationship
between Dylan and Bigleggins. “He never acted scared or nothing like
that.”
Ayer recalled two incidents of Bigleggins disciplining the boy.
To punish Dylan, Bigleggins would make him do squats or sit-ups until he told him to stop, Ayer said.
One time, he said, Bigleggins told the boy he wasn't doing them right.
”Leon
got mad and he kicked him (Dylan) in the stomach,” Ayer said, noting
that at the time he didn't think much of the kick. “It was more just to
let him (Dylan) know he was there.”
In a separate incident, Ayer said that he once walked into the trailer to find Bigleggins “spanking” Dylan's feet.
Ayer
said he went down to the trailer one morning, knocked, and walked in to
find Dylan laying on his back, crying. Bigleggins was holding the boys
ankles, Ayer said, while striking the bottoms of his feet with a broken
plastic coat hanger. Following the incident, Bigleggins told Ayer that
he had decided to use the hanger because “spanking Dylan's butt wasn't
enough.”
Like the kick, Ayer said he didn't think much of what he saw.
”I didn't feel like it was my place to say anything,” he said.
Bigleggins is scheduled to appear back in court on Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. for an arraignment hearing.



http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_18651992

A mixed-martial artist in
training again pleaded not guilty Monday to allegations of brutally
beating a child to death, before a Humboldt County Superior Court judge
set an Oct. 4 trial date in the case.
Leon Alyious Bigleggins,
26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and two counts of child
abuse related to the July 24, 2010, death of 4-year-old Dylan
Blount-Chambers, who he'd been caring for while his grandmother worked.
An autopsy determined Blount-Chambers' cause of death to be blunt force
trauma to the abdomen or head but revealed extensive bruising over the
boy's entire body.
A judge ruled there was sufficient evidence
to hold Bigleggins to stand trial on the charges on Aug. 9, and
Bigleggins was re-arraigned in the case Monday.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_18738089

Bigleggins murder trial postponed

The Times-Standard
Posted: 10/12/2011 01:59:33 AM PDT

The trial of a mixed-martial-artist-in-training facing a murder charge stemming from the death of a 4-year-old boy has been postponed. Leon Alyious
Bigleggins, 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and two counts of child abuse related to the July 24, 2010, death of Dylan Blount-Chambers. Bigleggins had been caring for the child while his grandmother worked. An autopsy determined Blount-Chambers' cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the abdomen or head but revealed extensive bruising over the boy's entire body. Bigleggins' trial was slated to begin Tuesday, but has been postponed. He is due in court today, at which point a judge is expected to set a new trial date in the case.

http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_19094689?source=most_viewed

EUREKA, Calif. --
A martial arts fighter accused of fatally beating his girlfriend's
4-year-old grandson has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and
felony child abuse.

The Eureka Times-Standard
reports 27-year-old Leon Bigleggins of Arcata entered the guilty plea
Monday as part of an agreement that will see him sentenced to 18 years
and four months in state prison.
Bigleggins is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.
Attorney David Lee says his client accepted the deal to avoid a murder trial and a possible life sentence.
Bigleggins was arrested a day after 4-year-old Dylan Blount-Chambers died on July 24, 2010.
Preliminary hearing testimony indicated Bigleggins would discipline
the boy by whipping and kicking him. A doctor testified he found
abrasions all over the boy's body.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/state&id=8663201