Jury deliberations continued this week in the murder trial of an Alpine man who is accused of killing his girlfriend's 18-month-old daughter.
The nine man, three woman jury began deliberations late Friday after a full day of closing arguments in the trial of Wiliey Foster Jr., 28, who is charged with killing Leah Rose Brown-Meza.
Foster did not testify. His emotional 911 call was again played to the jury and El Cajon Superior Court Judge Robert Amador.
Jury deliberations continued this week in the murder trial of an Alpine man who is accused of killing his girlfriend's 18-month-old daughter.
The nine man, three woman jury began deliberations late Friday after a full day of closing arguments in the trial of Wiliey Foster Jr., 28, who is charged with killing Leah Rose Brown-Meza.
Foster did not testify. His emotional 911 call was again played to the jury and El Cajon Superior Court Judge Robert Amador.
He is charged with murder and assault upon a child that ends in death. The assault charge carries a 25-year sentence.
His ex-girlfriend, Lillie Golden Brown, 22, of Alpine, found her daughter not breathing on Dec. 6, 2016 in the mobile home which was parked in Alpine near where Foster's parents live. She testified she alerted Foster and his mother.
Deputy District Attorney Chantal De Mauregne asked jurors to convict Foster of second-degree murder. The baby was found to have a broken arm and her foot was burned, apparently from a space heater that was in the mobile home.
Foster's attorney, Gretchen von Helms argued for an acquittal on all counts. Von Helms said Brown lied and should not be believed. She said Brown was alone with the baby most of the time in her last day of her life.
Foster's other attorney, Jan Ronis, said Brown did not check on the baby for 14 hours until she found her apparently dead. Brown testified she woke up at 6 a.m. that day and threw up before going back to bed and sleeping until noon.
Brown testified Feb. 16 that she has used methamphetamine in the past and had lied to sheriff's deputies about her drug use. She was arrested Feb. 3, just before Foster's trial started, on misdemeanor battery and public drunkenness in an unknown location.
The Feb. 3 arrest occurred after she was placed in a witness protection program. Attorneys on both sides read a stipulation to the jury that said the witness protection program had nothing to do with Foster.
Brown has pleaded guilty to child endangerment and is expected to be sentenced to a year or less in jail on terms of four years probation in May. She remains free on her own recognizance.
Foster has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail on $2 million bail.
***
A murder trial has been set for May 15 for three people accused of killing a man in the parking lot of the Burlington Coat Factory in La Mesa in July, 2017.
The trio, Derrick Eli Henderson, 30, Kathryn Luwana Williams, 25, and Tiesha Renee Johnson, 33, pleaded not guilty to murder after they were all ordered to stand trial in the July 20, 2017 fatal shooting of Travis Michael Lewis, 30, of San Diego.
Witnesses testified in the trio's preliminary hearing in El Cajon Superior Court. It was believed Lewis was robbed after the verbal altercation in the store's parking lot at 7938 El Cajon Boulevard. La Mesa Police said Henderson was believed to be the gunman. They were all arrested on July 25 by La Mesa Police.
They have all pleaded not guilty and remain in jail on high bail.
***
An El Cajon man who was wearing blue scrubs at Sharp Grossmont Hospital has pleaded guilty to impersonating a doctor.
Zaid Bassam Jeorge, 27, never saw a patient but he was dressed in a white physicians coat with the Sharp logo with a name tag similar to his name that identified him as an anesthesiologist. He was arrested in Jan. 11 in the hospital's doctors lounge. He had a stethoscope with him, but did not have any credentials that identified him as a physician.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said an El Cajon Superior Court judge sentenced him in Feb. to a month in jail that he has already served and suspended a 360-day jail term. Reizen said the judge ordered him to leave the U.S. following his release in federal custody where he was being held on an immigration violation.
None of the doctors at the hospital knew him, and Jeorge was only seen in the doctors lounge.
