FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Jurors Hear Tape of Accused’s Account

The murder trial of a 21-year-old Fountain Valley man accused of strangling and suffocating his 15-month-old nephew while baby-sitting him in 1989 began Monday with a chilling account of the infant’s death.

Sherman Robert Corwin Jr., who is charged with first-degree murder, sat impassively while the prosecution played to the jury a tape in which the defendant outlined to police how he tried to stop his nephew, Thomas Negri, from crying.

“First, I tried to choke him. And then he started crying more and more and more. So I got a sock and I shoved it in his mouth and I kind of gagged him. Then, I placed a plastic bag over his head and sealed it off and kind of suffocated him,” Corwin told police.

He “started panicking,” Corwin said, when the child stopped breathing. So, he went into the kitchen and got a garbage bag and placed the baby’s body in the bag, he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles J. Middleton told the Superior Court jury sitting in Harbor Municipal Court in his brief opening statement that Corwin harbors “bad feelings” toward his sister’s family and that the killing of his sister’s son was “premeditated.”

Corwin’s attorney, Public Defender Marri Derby, however, said the strangling death was a tragedy in which “there are no winners . . . only losers.”

“You’ll be left--when this case is finished--not with anger,” Derby told jurors in her opening statement. “Instead, you’ll be left with sorrow.”

Holding back their tears, Greg and Cheryl Negri of Fountain Valley, the infant’s parents, testified that they came home from dinner on Oct. 14, 1989, to find their son lying lifeless in his crib and Cheryl Negri’s brother, Corwin, gone. Their 4-year-old daughter, Elaine, was unharmed and asleep in her bed.

Thomas Negri died at Children’s Hospital of Orange County after an 18-hour struggle on life support systems.

Thomas “was a very happy child,” Cheryl Negri tearfully testified, never looking at her brother. “He never cried . . . (he was) just a good baby.”

According to court testimony, Corwin had been living with the Negris for almost three months before the killing. He was discharged from the Navy after he reportedly attempted suicide by placing a plastic bag over his head. He spent five months in a naval psychiatric ward after the attempt.

However, Greg Negri testified that he once overheard a telephone conversation in which Corwin told the other party: “I’m no longer in the Navy. I’ve scammed my way out. Those guys don’t know anything. I’ve faked everything.”

Corwin suffers a hereditary “mental illness,” Derby told the jury.

Derby, who did not name the malady, said it came from the defendant’s mother who committed suicide when he was 7.

Although Corwin grew up with his father, he was a neglected child, Derby said. Because of a lack of guidance, Corwin dealt with his illness by turning to “self-medication,” she said.

Whenever he’s upset, Corwin “puts a plastic bag over his head,” she said. “He never had treatment until he was in the Navy.”

At the most, Corwin should be charged with manslaughter, Derby said during court recess.

“It’s really a tragedy, and it could have been prevented,” Derby said. “If people had taken an interest . . . he could probably have been diagnosed and treated.”

Outside the courtroom, Greg Negri and his father, Frank Negri, comforted each other.

“The feelings are there; we just can’t express them right now,” Frank Negri said. “We just hope the jury will reach the correct verdict so we can get on with our lives again.”