Jury deliberations begin for Gustine father accused of killing baby

Holding a photo of a 9-month-old Gustine boy taken hours before he suffered fatal injuries, a Merced County prosecutor told jurors the boy’s father killed the child and then “lied and lied and lied.”

Following a trial that lasted more than two weeks, jurors heard closing arguments Friday from Harold Nutt, Merced County chief deputy district attorney, and defense attorney Stephanie Jamieson, a Merced County deputy public defender representing Andrew Sanchez.

The Gustine father faces a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison in the alleged killing of his son, Maddix Ramsour.

Emergency responders found Maddix suffering apparent head injuries on March 5, 2015, at the family’s home in the 30000 block of Cottonwood Road near Gustine, according to court records. Sanchez has said the child fell from a bed, but Nutt said it was the defendant who caused his fatal injuries.

“The defendant slammed Maddix’s head into something,” Nutt said. “Probably the floor.”

Relatives of the boy wept quietly in the Merced County Superior Courtroom as Nutt urged jurors to find Sanchez guilty of second degree murder.

Jamieson argued the prosecution did not do enough to prove its version of events, calling all of the evidence “circumstantial.” The defense has said repeatedly that Sanchez, then 25, turned his back from the baby while changing his diaper and the infant rolled off of a 2-foot-tall bed.

Experts for the prosecution gave several possibilities for how the child suffered brain bleeding and other injuries inside his skull but not injuries to the skull itself, Jamieson said.

“If the DA’s experts don’t agree on a mechanism of injury, that’s reasonable doubt,” she said to jurors.

Nutt described Sanchez’s actions after the boy’s death as “weird,” saying the father acted unfazed at the baby’s funeral and removed his crib, a sign with the boy’s name, and toys from the house.

“Two days after this child is dead, everything is moved out of the house,” he said.

The defense has argued Sanchez removed the objects because he was trying to encourage the boy’s mother to come back to the house. She had started staying in a hotel because the home was filled with too many painful reminders of her son, according to testimony.

Nutt repeatedly reminded jurors that Sanchez told two different stories about what happened to cause the injuries. In a phone conversation recorded without his knowledge, Sanchez blamed his 3-year-old daughter for hurting the infant.

“The defendant lied because he’s covering up something,” he said. “He’s covering up something because he’s guilty.”

Jamieson said the second story came because, though a “scared” Sanchez was telling the truth about the fall, nobody believed him. He was questioned several times by investigators, the boy’s mother, the mother of his daughter and others, she said.

“You have a scared young man who’s been pressed and prodded,” she said.

The jury began deliberations Friday and are expected to continue on Monday.

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Jury deliberations begin for Gustine father accused of killing baby."