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Thread: Daniel Contreras Sentenced to 33 Years to Life in 2015 CA Murder of 17-Month-Old Evelyn Castillo

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    Daniel Contreras Sentenced to 33 Years to Life in 2015 CA Murder of 17-Month-Old Evelyn Castillo


    Evelyn Castillo




    Redwood City man pleads not guilty to sexually abusing, murdering 17-month-old girl

    A Redwood City man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to sexually abusing and murdering a 17-month-old girl left in his care earlier this month, prosecutors said.

    Daniel Contreras, 27, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder, felony child abuse resulting in the death of a child and multiple counts of performing lewd acts on a child for the death of the girl, identified as Evelyn Castillo, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

    Contreras had been dating Evelyn's mother for about two months when she left the girl alone with him on Aug. 6.

    The girl was fatally injured in his care, and Contreras called the girl's mother and aunt and said she had fallen off a changing table, prosecutors said.

    She was dead by the time police arrived at the apartment in the 400 block of Madison Avenue at about 2:30 p.m.

    Contreras repeated his story to authorities, but he was arrested two days later when the investigation revealed that the girl had been beaten to death, prosecutors said.

    He allegedly sexually assaulted the girl and when she would not stop crying, he beat her, fracturing her skull multiple times, according to prosecutors.

    Contreras remains in jail without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 8. The district attorney's office has still not determined whether to seek the death penalty in the case, Wagstaffe said.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...xually-abusing
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Prosecutors weigh death penalty for alleged toddler killer

    Prosecutors will decide by March whether the man accused of murdering and molesting his girlfriend’s 17-month-old daughter will face the death penalty, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Monday.

    Daniel Contreras, 27, is being charged with murder, felony child abuse resulting in the death of a child and multiple counts of performing lewd acts on a child.

    He pleaded not guilty in August.

    Contreras allegedly sexually assaulted the toddler who then would not stop crying so he allegedly beat her to death Thursday, Aug. 6, according to prosecutors.

    The victim had multiple head injuries.

    Contreras allegedly repeatedly molested the toddler.

    The toddler, Evelyn Castillo, was found unconscious and unresponsive in an apartment in the 400 block of Madison Avenue.

    Contreras claimed the toddler fell from a table but an autopsy determined the death was a homicide.

    Contreras, who was dating Evelyn’s mother, had been caring for the toddler at the time of her death, according to prosecutors.

    He is being charged with five felony counts including murder with special circumstance of murder during child molestation, assault on a child resulting in death, oral copulation on a child, lewd act with a child and sexual assault on a child under 10 years old.

    He faces a maximum of life without parole or death.

    He remains in custody on no bail status and is being represented by private defender James Thompson.

    Contreras is due back in court March 7 for a preliminary hearing.

    http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articl...425155181.html

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    Man could face death penalty for alleged fatal beating, sexual assault of toddler

    By Examiner Staff and Wire Report
    The San Francisco Examiner

    A 28-year-old man pleaded not guilty in San Mateo County Superior Court this week to sexually abusing and murdering his girlfriend’s young daughter.

    Daniel Contreras of Redwood City could face the death penalty if convicted of murder and felony child abuse, among other charges, for the death of the 17-month-old girl, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said, who noted the case is particularly gruesome.

    “It’s a shocking set of facts,” Wagstaffe said Wednesday of Contreras’ alleged crimes.

    On Aug. 6, 2015, Contreras’ girlfriend of two months reportedly left her daughter in the care of Contreras for the first time. Over the course of several hours, Contreras repeatedly sexually molested the young girl, prosecutors said.

    When the girl wouldn’t stop crying, Contreras allegedly beat her to death, then called his mother and aunt, lying by saying the girl had fallen off a changing table, according to prosecutors.

    She was dead by the time police arrived at the apartment in the 400 block of Madison Avenue at about 2:30 p.m.

    Contreras repeated his story to authorities, but he was arrested two days later when the investigation revealed that the girl had been beaten to death, prosecutors said.

    Contreras pleaded not guilty at his superior court arraignment Tuesday, and a pretrial conference was scheduled for Dec. 12. He had also pleaded not guilty at his initial arraignment last year.

    Contreras remains in custody without bail. Wagstaffe said Wednesday he has not yet determined whether to seek the death penalty for Contreras.

    http://www.sfexaminer.com/man-face-d...sault-toddler/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    DA’s office seeks death penalty

    Maximum sentence sought for man who killed 17-month-old girl in Redwood City

    By Anna Schuessler
    The Daily Journal

    Almost two and a half years after a 29-year-old Redwood City man was first accused of molesting and murdering his girlfriend’s 17-month-old daughter, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a crime described as “particularly heinous.”

    Once facing life without possibility of parole, Daniel Contreras could be the first county inmate on death row if convicted of his charges since 2010, when Alberto Alvarez was sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May, said Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti.

    Guidotti said prosecutors chose to seek the death penalty for Contreras’ multiple felony charges — among them murder, oral copulation of a child under 10 years old, child abuse and child molestation with great bodily injury — when no resolution on his case looked likely at his pretrial conference Monday.

    “Obviously we take these decisions very seriously, and it is an unusual case when we seek death in this county,” she said, adding that the acts Contreras is believed to have committed on a toddler were particularly heinous.

    “It’s hard to imagine a more vicious crime than that.”

    Guidotti said the death penalty can only be sought if special circumstances are alleged with a defendant’s charges, noting that because allegations Contreras committed lewd and lascivious acts and oral copulation on the child are attached to his murder charge, the death penalty was an option in his case. Though the county has three other pending cases involving the murder of a young child or infant, Contreras’ is the only case for which the death penalty is being sought at this time, said Guidotti, who confirmed special circumstances have not been alleged in those cases.

    ‘Very selective’

    Guidotti could recall at least three other cases in the 1990s in which the death sentence was sought for particularly violent murders, but acknowledged the public’s aversion to the sentence in recent years. She said it’s become increasingly important for prosecutors to choose only those cases that truly merit the death penalty and for which the jury is likely to deliver the sentence when they pursue the punishment.

    “The public is less and less in favor of it,” she said. “And we are very selective. We’ve always been very selective.”

    Contreras has pleaded not guilty to all charges and his defense attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.

    The toddler, Evelyn Castillo, was found unconscious and unresponsive in an apartment on the 400 block of Madison Avenue in the Central Neighborhood of Redwood City around 2:30 p.m. Aug. 6, 2015. Contreras had been dating the mother for just two months when he convinced the woman to leave him alone with the child for the first time, according to prosecutors.

    Over the course of several hours, Contreras allegedly repeatedly sexually molested the girl, including by oral copulation. When the child wouldn’t stop crying, Contreras fatally beat her, according to prosecutors. He contacted his mother and initially claimed the child fell off the changing table, but an autopsy established his story was false, according to prosecutors.

    Other similar crimes

    Another man, 26-year-old Marco Antonio Alvarado-Cisneros, is also being charged with murdering his girlfriend’s 18-month-old son in unincorporated Redwood City in August 2014.

    Alvarado-Cisneros was caring for the baby named Dante Nava at their apartment while the mother went to work. That night, the man called 911 claiming the baby may have had a seizure and fallen off the bed. An autopsy revealed numerous injuries including several human, adult bite marks, according to prosecutors.

    Alvarado-Cisneros continued to live with the girlfriend after the baby’s death and even had another child with her. About a year later, the mother reported to police numerous domestic violence attacks, kidnapping and robbery of her by Alvarado-Cisneros.

    He was arrested and a subsequent investigation led to his arrest for murder of the baby. He is charged with murder, kidnapping, battery and willful infliction of corporal punishment, according to prosecutors.

    Alvarado-Cisneros is facing life in prison with possibility of parole, said Guidotti.

    Among the other cases involving the murder of a young child is a 2011 gang-related shooting in which a 3-month-old child was left dead in the backseat of his parents’ car on East Palo Alto’s Wisteria Street that was connected to 24-year-old Fabian Zaragoza, a juvenile when the shooting occurred. The 2016 murder of a 2-year-old child believed to be beaten to death by 26-year-old East Palo Alto resident Adair Zevallos, the boyfriend of the child’s mother, could also be counted among the tragic cases that does not meet the state’s criteria for consideration of the death penalty, said Guidotti.

    One of Contreras’ two defense attorneys, Richard Keyes, withdrew from his case Monday so no jury trial date was set, said Guidotti.

    Contreras is next expected to appear in court April 12 for appearance of his new defense attorney, who is slated to act as co-counsel alongside attorney James Thompson and to be appointed from the county’s private defender program, according to Guidotti.

    http://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/l...5a1bbc35c.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Edited:

    Trial Set for April 2019 for Daniel Contreras


    By Mark Gomez
    The Mercury News

    EAST PALO ALTO — The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office is currently prosecuting three other cases involving the killing of young children, including a death-penalty case, Wagstaffe said.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Daniel Contreras, 30, a Redwood City man accused of sexually assaulting and killing a 17-month-old girl left in his care in August, 2015. Contreras has been charged with murder with the special circumstance that he killed the girl — identified by prosecutors as Evelyn — while committing a forcible lewd act, assault on a child causing death, and forcible lewd acts on a child.

    The case against Contreras is scheduled for trial in April.

    https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/...th-of-toddler/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #6
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    Edited:

    Trial delayed more than a year for alleged baby killer

    By The Daily Journal

    The trial date for a 31-year-old Redwood City man facing the death penalty on accusations he molested and then murdered his girlfriend’s 17-month-old daughter in 2015 has been delayed until Oct. 5, 2020, to allow his defense attorneys time to conduct further investigation and prepare for the penalty phase of his case, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

    The Friday decision of Judge Robert Foiles to set Daniel Contreras’ trial a fourth time since he was arraigned in 2016 came more than eight months after attorney James Thompson withdrew from the case. Because prosecutors chose to pursue the death penalty against Contreras in January of 2018, Contreras has been represented by two attorneys appointed by the county’s private defender program, according to prosecutors.

    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/...3767f5f62.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Oct. 5 jury trial in Redwood City murder case

    smdailyjournal.com

    An Oct. 5 jury trial is set for the Redwood City resident who prosecutors say sexually molested a 17-month old girl and then fatally beat her.

    Daniel Contreras, 31, is in custody on a no-bail-status.

    He lied about the victim falling off a changing table Aug. 6, 2015, and an autopsy established that the defendant’s story was false, according to prosecutors.

    The death penalty is sought in the case, which has had four jury trial dates since Contreras was arraigned in May 2016.

    In August 2019 the court granted a defense motion to continue the April 6, 2020, jury trial for six months to complete penalty phase investigation and preparation.

    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/...b3c51806d.html

  8. #8
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    DA drops death penalty in baby-killing case

    San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe on Monday reserved his decision on seeking the death penalty for Daniel Contreras, who is charged with molesting and killing his girlfriend’s 17-month-old daughter.

    Wagstaffe’s office is now seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole for Contreras, 32, of Redwood City, in the Aug. 6, 2015, death of Evelyn S. Castillo.

    When Evelyn would not stop crying, Contreras began to beat the toddler, resulting in multiple skull fractures, according to the DA.

    Contreras claimed Evelyn had died after falling from a table. But the autopsy disputed Contreras’ story, according to the DA’s office.

    Wagstaffe originally decided to seek the death penalty in 2018. His decision came after he and his death penalty team received hundreds of pages of information about Contreras from his attorneys, Peter Arian and Scott Sherman.

    The two attorneys were appointed to represent Contreras in early 2019 after his original attorneys James Thompson and Richard Keyes withdrew from the case.

    Wagstaffe said the information provided by Arian and Sherman shed some light on Contreras’ upbringing and mental health issues he suffers from.

    The DA said that the proof of Contreras molesting the child is “less than we originally thought.”

    Wagstaffe declined to go into what has potentially changed regarding the sexual assault aspect of the case, saying it will play out during Contreras’ trial in March.

    Wagstaffe said with the new information he was presented with, he concluded that “in today’s environment, this is not a case where a jury will return a death penalty verdict.”

    The DA said that life without parole is adequate in this case.

    In California, to be eligible for the death penalty, the defendant must have committed a first-degree murder that includes a “special circumstance” such as rape, other murders or arson or for gang purposes.

    Contreras was eligible for the death penalty because there is a special circumstance — the molestation of Evelyn.

    Contreras was the first person the DA’s office sought the death penalty in 12 years.

    In that case, Wagstaffe convinced a jury to vote for the execution of Alberto Alvarez, who shot and killed East Palo Alto Officer Richard May.

    However, there have been no executions in the state since 2006 because a judge ruled that the state’s lethal injection process violated the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In March 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in California.

    There are 744 inmates currently awaiting execution on death row, 11 of which received the sentence for crimes committed in San Mateo County.

    San Mateo County had 12 on death row until Philip Jablonski, 73, died of natural causes in December 2019. Jablonski had killed five women, including two Burlingame women, in 1991.

    https://padailypost.com/2020/11/30/d...-killing-case/

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    I would expect this in the Mid-Atlantic states not in Cali!
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Redwood City man sentenced to 33 years in baby killing case

    pleaded no contest for 2015 crime

    Daily Journal Staff Report

    A Redwood City man was sentenced Friday to 33 years to life in prison for the molestation and murder of a toddler, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

    Daniel Contreras, 32, sexually molested and fatally beat to death a 17-month-old girl in 2015 after being left alone for the first time with his girlfriend’s daughter, the DA’s Office said. He then lied about the girl falling off a changing table, which an autopsy established his story was false, prosecutors said.

    Wagstaffe said the mother, grandmother and grandfather of the victim were at the sentencing Friday and gave statements to the court about Contreras.

    “They want him to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Wagstaffe said.

    Scott Sherman, part of Contreras’ defense team, said the case took a long time because it started as a potential death penalty case before a deal was reached. A judge previously ruled that three separate confessions Contreras made to Redwood City law enforcement would be suppressed on Miranda rights grounds because Contreras asked for a lawyer and was not immediately provided one.

    “I am glad that the case is over for both Mr. Contreras and the family of the victim,” Sherman said.

    Sherman believes his client will work hard to be a better person and stated Contreras was not as bad as the worst thing he has ever done. He said the family’s statements were heard by everyone.

    “I do think it was a powerful message,” Sherman said.

    Contreras will serve a minimum of 33 years, with 25 years for first-degree murder and eight years for molestation. Contreras has close to six years credit for time served in county jail, and he will be eligible for a parole hearing in 27 years. However, Wagstaffe said the court made a statement on the nature of the horrendous crime and said Contreras should not benefit of any early parole. Contreras must also pay restitution of $21,785 and will now go to state prison. Contreras pleaded no contest March 18 to first-degree murder and child molestation charges after the defense and prosecution teams reached a resolution.

    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/...87a1c1fff.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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