Turlock father charged with murder of baby confessed to beating, according to testimony
The Turlock father of a two-month old girl who died in April told a detective he repeatedly punched the infant in the head because she wouldn’t stop crying, according to testimony in Stanislaus Superior Court.
Following a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Judge Linda McFadden concluded there was enough evidence for Joseph Alexander Rendon, 24, to stand trial on the charges of murder and child abuse causing death.
On April 13, Rendon picked up his daughter Araceli from her mother’s home and drove her to his home near Donnelly Park. He was alone with her when she stopped breathing, according to testimony. Rendon drove the baby to Emanuel Medical Center, where efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.
Turlock police Detective Brandon Bertram interviewed Rendon at the hospital and again the following day.
Araceli had bruises on her chin and a small one on her cheek, which Rendon attributed to cupping her chin while he burped her, Bertram testified.
Bertram said there were no other obvious signs of trauma to Araceli at the hospital, but postmortem she developed a large contusion covering the left side of her head and neck, which he observed during her autopsy the following day.
A forensic pathologist testified the girl had multiple skull fractures and died of blunt force injuries.
Following the April 14 autopsy, Rendon voluntarily went to the Turlock Police department for another interview. Bertram confronted Rendon about Araceli’s injuries and his story changed several times.
First, Rendon said that while driving with her earlier in the day, he swerved around another vehicle and heard a sound that he attributed to her head hitting the side of the car seat. He later told Bertram that Araceli fell off his bed, according to testimony.
Then Rendon said he saw a bump on Aracali’s head and she was crying uncontrollably, so he used his fingers to forcefully try to push the bump back into her head, according to testimony. Finally, he told the detective he was frustrated, lost control and began striking the infant.
They were on Rendon’s bed. He grabbed a metal water bottle that was nearby and put the right side of Araceli’s head on it while he punched the left side of her head, Bertram testified.
“As he struck her, her head would (move) and he would reposition her head on the water bottle and strike her again,” Bertram testified. “He then placed her on the mattress in front of him and sat and watched her as she stopped crying and then she stopped breathing.”
At the beginning of the interview Bertram gave Rendon an admonition that he was free to leave at any time. After Rendon described hitting the child, Bertram read him his Miranda rights, explaining he was detained, no longer free to go and had the right to remain silent. Rendon agreed to continue the interview and proceeded to use both a water bottle and a seat cushion to demonstrate what he did to Araceli, Bertram testified.
Rendon’s attorney Martin Baker argued that Bertram should have read Rendon his Miranda rights at the beginning of the interview.
“Not advising him of his Miranda rights likely led to him making inculpatory statements,” Baker said to Bertram on cross examination; Bertram agreed.
Baker argued that Rendon’s statements prior to Miranda should not be admissible.
“The real question is whether someone in his position would feel free to leave,” he said. He is deep within the Police Department in a closed room with an armed officer.”
Judge McFadden disagreed. She said Bertram was not obligated to read Rendon his Miranda rights before the interview because, while Rendon was a suspect at the time, Bertram was still in the fact-finding stage of the investigation and needed to ask questions to learn if anyone else could have injured Araceli.
Rendon was booked into the Stanislaus County jail following his interview with Bertram.
Less than a week later, he was contacted in jail by a social worker doing an investigation for Child Protective Services. Rendon’s story changed again when he told the social worker he accidentally dropped Araceli twice on the day of her death, Bertram testified.
While McFadden ruled there was enough evidence to support both charges of murder and child abuse causing death, she said a decision about the degree of murder would not be made during the preliminary hearing phase. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office charged Rendon with first-degree murder, alleging the crime was premeditated.
Rendon is scheduled to return to court to be arraigned on the charges Oct. 19.
