Opening statements are scheduled this morning in the trial of a 20-year-old Santa Ana man accused of murdering his girlfriend's 9-month-old
son by fracturing the child's skull to make him stop crying.
Alexander Lucas Barnes could get 25 years to life in state prison if he is convicted in Santa Ana court on one felony count
of murder and one felony count of child abuse resulting in death.
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Barnes is accused of babysitting his girlfriend's
9-month-old baby Isaiah Prim-Ortiz, who was not the biological child of Barnes, for the first time the morning of Oct. 6, 2009, while his
girlfriend went to class at a nearby community college. Angered by the baby's crying, Barnes allegedly hit Isaiah in the head with blunt force.
The defendant is then said to have put the boy down for a nap around 1 p.m. When the child's Barnes' mother came to the home and discovered the baby was not breathing, she called for help. Isaiah was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4 p.m. Three separate skull fractures were said to be the cause.
Santa Ana police detectives sought a murder count against Barnes after an investigation. He is charged with one felony count
of murder and one felony count of child abuse resulting in death.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
I think the case needs to be reopened and looked at