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Anaheim woman should never leave prison after torture of 10-year-old stepdaughter, judge says
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useapen
Nov 9, 2023, 4:22:02 AM11/9/23
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A 34-year-old Anaheim woman was sentenced Friday to nearly 15 years to
life for torturing her 10-year-old stepdaughter, who was left emaciated,
severely injured and near death. The judge told the stepmother he hopes
she never will be released from prison.
During searing comments made before handing down the 14 years and 10
months to life term, Orange County Superior Court Judge Scott Steiner
described Mayra Chavez as a “demon in human form” who was convicted of
carrying out what amounted to “little more than medieval torture”
following what the judge called “the most dreadful trial of my 24 years in
criminal law.”
“She is evil incarnate, everything to be feared in life,” Steiner said of
Chavez. “I can only hope most earnestly that the defendant spends the rest
of her life in prison.”
Chavez was convicted of torture related to one girl in her care, two
counts of felony child abuse related to two other young girls, and a
lesser misdemeanor charge of simple assault related to an older teen boy.
Her husband, Domingo Flores, is awaiting a separate trial.
According to testimony during her trial, Chavez directed the brunt of what
prosecutors described as “sadistic” torture on one girl, apparently over
anger at the girl’s biological mother, with whom Chavez and her husband
were embroiled in a vicious custody battle. The abuse ramped up as the
pandemic left the children isolated away from school, and persisted for a
lengthy time despite reports to child protection and law enforcement
officials.
The girl was fed only oatmeal and was forced to eat away from the rest of
the family, facing a wall. She was forced to kneel on canned goods and
hold weights over her head for lengthy periods. She was zip-tied to a bed,
then later to a TV stand without a pillow or blanket. At times hot peppers
were shoved into her eyes and elsewhere; at other times, she was subjected
to cold showers and ice baths.
The girl’s father brought her to Children’s Hospital of Orange County in
August 2022, claiming she had harmed herself and then fallen down some
stairs. Emergency workers were shocked at her condition. She was in septic
shock and was experiencing heart failure, so malnourished at 50 pounds
that nurses and doctors initially thought she was years younger than her
actual age.
The judge noted that in pictures taken at the hospital, the girl looked
like a cadaver. Among her many injuries — which ultimately required 17
surgeries — were a broken neck and a bone sticking out of an unhealed
sore. It would be nine months until she was able to walk again.
In a brief statement to Chavez during Friday’s hearing, the young girl
told Chavez that “I don’t know why I thought what you did to me was my
fault.”
Her biological mother, who now has custody of her, said the girl has
gotten past the “miserable life of fear and pain” that Chavez put her
through and has “surpassed the darkness.”
Dozens of supporters — who packed the courtroom — greeted and embraced the
girl after the hearing.
The two other girls abused by Chavez — who were several years older than
the torture victim — told the judge that they regretted not doing more to
tell someone else about what the younger girl was going through. One of
them told Chavez that she will “never comprehend what you did to me,”
while the other said that she hoped to one day “be able to have peace and
stop thinking of you.”
“All you ever did was lie, every step you took was destruction,” the
torture victim’s uncle told Chavez.
Chavez did not speak during the hearing. She occasionally shook her head
as the others spoke.
During the trial, Chavez’s attorney said she suffered her own abusive
childhood and had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. The defense
attorney argued that Chavez was trying to discipline, not torture, a child
she “couldn’t understand or control.”
In October, a Santa Ana jury took less than five hours to convict Chavez.
Several jurors returned to court on Friday to watch the sentencing, the
judge noted.
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer also attended the sentencing, and afterward
said that once the trial of Chavez’s husband is completed he plans to do a
full assessment to find out why the abuse wasn’t discovered sooner. At one
point the torture victim’s uncle and aunt reported the abuse, and an
officer even stopped by Chavez’s Anaheim apartment to ask her about the
allegations on another occasion, but nothing was done until the girl was
brought to the hospital.
“I need to understand how things went on this long, this bad,” Spitzer
said.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said a fund has been set up
to provide support and accept donations for the 10-year-old girl and her
siblings through the Orange County Family Justice Center.
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/11/03/anaheim-woman-should-never-leave-
prison-after-torture-of-10-year-old-stepdaughter-judge-says/
life for torturing her 10-year-old stepdaughter, who was left emaciated,
severely injured and near death. The judge told the stepmother he hopes
she never will be released from prison.
During searing comments made before handing down the 14 years and 10
months to life term, Orange County Superior Court Judge Scott Steiner
described Mayra Chavez as a “demon in human form” who was convicted of
carrying out what amounted to “little more than medieval torture”
following what the judge called “the most dreadful trial of my 24 years in
criminal law.”
“She is evil incarnate, everything to be feared in life,” Steiner said of
Chavez. “I can only hope most earnestly that the defendant spends the rest
of her life in prison.”
Chavez was convicted of torture related to one girl in her care, two
counts of felony child abuse related to two other young girls, and a
lesser misdemeanor charge of simple assault related to an older teen boy.
Her husband, Domingo Flores, is awaiting a separate trial.
According to testimony during her trial, Chavez directed the brunt of what
prosecutors described as “sadistic” torture on one girl, apparently over
anger at the girl’s biological mother, with whom Chavez and her husband
were embroiled in a vicious custody battle. The abuse ramped up as the
pandemic left the children isolated away from school, and persisted for a
lengthy time despite reports to child protection and law enforcement
officials.
The girl was fed only oatmeal and was forced to eat away from the rest of
the family, facing a wall. She was forced to kneel on canned goods and
hold weights over her head for lengthy periods. She was zip-tied to a bed,
then later to a TV stand without a pillow or blanket. At times hot peppers
were shoved into her eyes and elsewhere; at other times, she was subjected
to cold showers and ice baths.
The girl’s father brought her to Children’s Hospital of Orange County in
August 2022, claiming she had harmed herself and then fallen down some
stairs. Emergency workers were shocked at her condition. She was in septic
shock and was experiencing heart failure, so malnourished at 50 pounds
that nurses and doctors initially thought she was years younger than her
actual age.
The judge noted that in pictures taken at the hospital, the girl looked
like a cadaver. Among her many injuries — which ultimately required 17
surgeries — were a broken neck and a bone sticking out of an unhealed
sore. It would be nine months until she was able to walk again.
In a brief statement to Chavez during Friday’s hearing, the young girl
told Chavez that “I don’t know why I thought what you did to me was my
fault.”
Her biological mother, who now has custody of her, said the girl has
gotten past the “miserable life of fear and pain” that Chavez put her
through and has “surpassed the darkness.”
Dozens of supporters — who packed the courtroom — greeted and embraced the
girl after the hearing.
The two other girls abused by Chavez — who were several years older than
the torture victim — told the judge that they regretted not doing more to
tell someone else about what the younger girl was going through. One of
them told Chavez that she will “never comprehend what you did to me,”
while the other said that she hoped to one day “be able to have peace and
stop thinking of you.”
“All you ever did was lie, every step you took was destruction,” the
torture victim’s uncle told Chavez.
Chavez did not speak during the hearing. She occasionally shook her head
as the others spoke.
During the trial, Chavez’s attorney said she suffered her own abusive
childhood and had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. The defense
attorney argued that Chavez was trying to discipline, not torture, a child
she “couldn’t understand or control.”
In October, a Santa Ana jury took less than five hours to convict Chavez.
Several jurors returned to court on Friday to watch the sentencing, the
judge noted.
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer also attended the sentencing, and afterward
said that once the trial of Chavez’s husband is completed he plans to do a
full assessment to find out why the abuse wasn’t discovered sooner. At one
point the torture victim’s uncle and aunt reported the abuse, and an
officer even stopped by Chavez’s Anaheim apartment to ask her about the
allegations on another occasion, but nothing was done until the girl was
brought to the hospital.
“I need to understand how things went on this long, this bad,” Spitzer
said.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said a fund has been set up
to provide support and accept donations for the 10-year-old girl and her
siblings through the Orange County Family Justice Center.
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/11/03/anaheim-woman-should-never-leave-
prison-after-torture-of-10-year-old-stepdaughter-judge-says/
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