Published: August 07, 2008 12:05 am      

King found guilty of infant’s murder

GREENVILLE — It didn’t take long for prosecutors to lay out their case, alleging Christi Denice King was guilty of murder in the drowning death of Elisiah Miguel Guajardo, her 10-month-old son.

It took even less time for the jury to agree with them.

The prosecution rested Wednesday morning, after less than two days of testimony in the 196th District Court during King’s trial on one count of murder.

The defense also rested its case Wednesday, without calling a single witness.

Following closing arguments, the jury took about 25 minutes to return with a guilty verdict.

One juror told the Herald-Banner there was no doubt in the minds of the panel that Guajardo’s death was indeed murder and not, as the defense had claimed, a tragic accident.

“The State proved their points one, two, three, four right away,” the juror said. “It doesn’t matter if she left the room for one minute or 11 minutes, the fact that she left the room was what mattered.”

Judge Joe Leonard ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled a punishment hearing for Sept. 29. King could face a sentence of from five to 99 years to life in prison, with no chance of probation.

King, 35, has remained in custody at the Hunt County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond since her arrest on January 11, 2007 and was indicted by the Hunt County grand jury in February of last year. She had pleaded not guilty.

Guajardo was pronounced dead at Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville after drowning in the bathtub of the apartment where King was staying on Jan. 27, 2006.

King placed Guajardo in the tub, with the water running, and told investigators she was intending to get in the tub as well, but then placed an 11-minute cell phone call to an automobile dealership to discuss a payment situation. King told investigators she discovered Guajardo in the tub, underneath the running faucet.

The murder indictment alleged King caused her son’s death by drowning him “in and/or with water”.

In the second paragraph of the indictment, King is alleged to have “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly and/or with criminal negligence, by act or omission, attempt to commit and/or commit abandoning/endangering a child.”

Water was alleged in the indictment to have been used as a deadly weapon in the commission of the offense.

Testimony during the trial revealed King had left one of her other children, about the same age, in a bathtub with the water running in 2000. The child nearly drowned, but survived.

During closing arguments Assistant District Attorney Keli Aiken told the jury how that incident alone should have made King more careful.

“She knew better, because of what happened before,” Aiken said.

Testimony Tuesday from the father, Miguel Guajardo, indicated he and King had had an argument the day before the drowning, during which King allegedly told him she “would take everything away” from him.

“He had no idea she meant his baby,” Aiken said, noting the father’s testimony, along with the previous incident and the way King repeatedly changed her versions of the events led investigators with the Greenville Police Department to believe the drowning was a deliberate act.

“She chose to do it,” Aiken said. “It is Christi Denice King’s fault that Baby Elisiah is not here.”

Defense attorney Jack Paris again urged the jury not to rush to judgment over what was a tragic accident.

“When something tragic happens, there is a need to affix blame for the tragic result and that is what we are seeing here in this case,” Paris said.

He stressed how King had been babysitting both the victim and her infant niece in the apartment for months and that she had taken both children to the doctor the day before and obtained prescription medications for the children.

“The question for you is, did Christi intend to kill this child,” Paris said. “There is no basis on which to believe she committed murder.”

Testimony Wednesday from the medical examiner who conducted Guajardo’s autopsy indicated at the time of his death the child was healthy, well-nourished and showed no signs of physical abuse.

“That is not the stuff a murderess is made of,” Paris said.

Assistant County Attorney Jessica Edwards, who joined in the prosecution of the case, reminded the jurors that they did not have to consider intent, noting that the formal charge in the case only required they determine that King endangered or abandoned a child of less than 15 years of age and engaged in an action which she knew could result in the death of an individual and that the action did result in Guajardo’s death.

Edwards said King obviously knew that placing Guajardo in the tub and leaving the room could result in the child’s death, as she had done it once before, a mistake no concerned parent would repeat.

“It might could happen once, but it would never happen again,” Edwards said. “Once might be an accident. Twice is felony murder.”

The 10-woman and two-man jury received the case at around 2:15 p.m., then returned in less than 30 minutes. It was the fastest guilty jury verdict that anyone in the courthouse could remember in a Hunt County murder case.

In a statement released following the verdict, Hunt County District Attorney F. Duncan Thomas congratulated Aiken and Edwards on the prosecution of the case and commended the work of the Greenville Police Department and Detective Warren Mitchell for the successful investigation.

“We are very pleased with this verdict,” Thomas said. “What this defendant did was a crime.”

Paris was disappointed in the outcome.

“We respect the verdict of the jury and know they listened attentively to the evidence,” he said. “But we believe and forever will believe it was a horrible, tragic accident which can never be altered by the actions of a jury or a court, one way or the other.”