On Feb. 13, 2-year-old Isabella Maria Cortes was struck hard enough to fracture her skull and cause bleeding on the brain. She died less than two weeks later.

In Lompoc Superior Court Friday, the child’s mother, Christana Marie Contreras, 27, facing charges of felony child endangerment, sat alongside her live-in boyfriend, Robert Anthony Garcia Jr., 35, who is charged with felony child abuse and Isabella’s murder.

As five witnesses were called to testify, a timeline began to emerge, of Garcia and Contreras coming and going from the house in a methamphetamine-induced haze in the hours leading up to Isabella’s injury.

The preliminary hearing was a chance for Deputy District Attorney Megan K. Baldwin to present the foundation of the case against Contreras and Garcia before a judge, to justify moving ahead to a felony trial. The preliminary hearing was continued to Friday, when the investigating police officer Suzie Aanerud is expected to testify.

Defense attorneys did not present evidence for the hearing Friday.

A nephew of Garcia, Juvenal Castro Jr., 19, was the first to testify. He said he had often baby-sat “Bell” and was at Contreras’ house the day before, and the day of the girl’s injury, smoking marijuana and taking methamphetamine with Contreras and his uncle.

Castro gave an unflattering impression of the Contreras household as an addicts’ hangout, where her children were often neglected, but said he could not identify who might have injured Isabella.

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Castro testified that Garcia woke the girl up for a McDonald’s breakfast the morning of Feb. 13, and that she seemed fine as Garcia brought her back to bed. As one of the four adults in the house that day, he said he did not see the girl again, hear any disturbance, or see anyone enter her room until that evening, when he said Contreras checked on her and found her unresponsive.

“I just hear her start screaming,” Castro said.

“You know your uncle. Was he ever violent when coming off of methamphetamine?” Baldwin asked.

“I think everybody is violent coming off of meth,” Castro answered, though under later examination he clarified his definition of “violent” by saying he never saw his uncle act abusive or physically injure anyone.

Baldwin challenged Castro’s testimony, implying that he was holding back because of his love for his uncle, Garcia, and because one of his other uncles has been charged with making criminal threats to keep him from testifying.

Castro maintained that he did not feel threatened, though, and simply could not recall any further details.

Baldwin then showed the court a video taken two days after Isabella was taken to the hospital. In it, Castro revealed a darker side to his uncle’s behavior toward Isabella.

“Every time she’d wake up she’d cry and my uncle, he’d just hit her,” Castro said during the taped interview, describing how he heard Isabella stop crying after one visit from Garcia, the night she was taken to the hospital.

On cross examination, Garcia’s defense attorney, David Bixby, made the point that Castro had admitted to being under the influence of marijuana, or marijuana and methamphetamine during every interview he had given, including smoking marijuana the day before court. He also had Castro reiterate his current testimony that he never saw Garcia physically harm Isabella, or heard her cry.

Other witnesses called to the stand included a gang member who visited the house the day of the injury, his girlfriend, and two Lompoc police officers who conducted parts of the investigation.

Glenn Wallace can be reached at 737-1059 or gwallace@santamariatimes.com.

September 20, 2008