Anthony Avalos' mother and her boyfriend sentenced to life for murder of 10-year-old
A solemn procession of teens and children all dressed in black strode into a Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday and stepped up to address the judge. They all wanted one thing: a life sentence for Heather Barron, 33, and Kareem Leiva, 37.
The judge granted their wish.
Barron and her boyfriend, Leiva, who were convicted last month of torturing Anthony Avalos and his siblings and ultimately killing Anthony, 10, Barron's oldest child, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, capping a painful five years for Anthony's other family members.
Seventeen relatives and witnesses testified during Tuesday's emotional sentencing hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta ordered Barron and Leiva jailed for life. Barron wept quietly as a steady stream of relatives spoke, detailing in painstaking detail how her actions not only ended the life of Anthony in her Lancaster home, but also destroyed all those who loved him.
"I am finally free from all the torture and abuse," said Anthony's sister, Destiny, who was unable at first to testify, as she cried in court. "If I would have known this would end with me losing a brother … I would do it all over again with just one difference: that it would be me, not Anthony."
The striking testimony left the usually inscrutable Barron in tears, wiping her face as she was repeatedly called a "monster" by those who once called her a sister or mother.
"Because of her actions I can no longer claim her as my family. In my mind, she is dead to me," said Dana B., a cousin of Anthony.
Dana spoke of how the killing shook her mother and her father, who is Barron's brother.
"I lost my father," she said. "I’ve seen him try to care for my mom and everything else in the house when he was also suffering in silence."
While family members said they will live forever with the pain of Anthony's death and hatred toward his killers, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami said he hoped that the sentence would provide some closure for the family.
"There is a small sense of justice," Hatami said at a press conference after the sentencing.
Hatami also used the press conference to take a shot at his boss, Dist. Atty. George Gascón, who he said refused to meet with the family. Hatami is running against Gascón for district attorney.
"He wouldn't listen to the family. He wouldn't even look at the facts or the evidence in this case," said Hatami, who has been a fierce critic of the progressive district attorney.
Tiffiny Blacknell, director of communications at the district attorney's office, said Gascón was pleased with the outcome of the sentencing.
“This moment should be spent in deep contemplation on how to prevent such a horror from occurring again instead of engaging in political rhetoric that doesn’t advance the safety of children," Blacknell said.
The sentencing left family members trying to reconcile Barron, whom they once knew as a friend and confidant, with the murderer she became.
"It’s still mind-blowing to me," said Barron's brother, David. "Why are we here?"
David Barron's wife, Maria, recalled a conversation with Heather Barron years earlier, back when she considered her sister-in-law to be her best friend. It was after the murder of another Antelope Valley child, Gabriel Fernandez, an 8-year-old killed by his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, in 2013.
"You once told me that you would never be like Pearl Fernandez," Maria Barron recalled. "Guess what? You’re just like her, even worse."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
