Mistrial Denied in Child-Abuse Case : Testimony: Defense attorney for Westlake woman objects when the 16-year-old alleged victim mentions her father’s previous conviction.

A judge overruled a defense request for a mistrial in a child-abuse case against an affluent Westlake mother after the alleged victim blurted out on the witness stand that her father had been convicted of a similar charge.

The 16-year-old girl, testifying for the second straight day against Charlotte Russo, was describing a conversation with her brother when she mentioned her father’s guilty plea and jail sentence.

Incensed, defense attorney James M. Farley requested the mistrial. Richard Russo, 50, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of child abuse and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

“This jury is going to think if the father has done something, then she’s done something,” Farley said of Russo.

Farley chided Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona, saying she had a duty to keep the girl from making inadmissible statements. Corona said the girl’s comments “were not orchestrated” and argued against a mistrial.

Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell conceded that the statements have “a possibility of tainting the case,” but reasoned that any adverse effect they might cause could be overcome by telling the jury that they have no bearing on Charlotte Russo’s case.

“I don’t believe the fact that they know he has served a sentence is reason for a mistrial,” the judge said.

Charlotte Russo, 52, faces one count of felony child abuse for allegedly biting the girl and one count of misdemeanor child abuse for incarcerating her in the family’s back-yard racquetball court.

The girl, the only witness to take the stand so far in the 2-day-old trial, made several revelations on the witness stand Thursday.

In one development, she testified that four times a day her mother forced her to eat uncooked oatmeal mixed with raw eggs and tap water from a bathroom sink. And once, she said, her mother dumped the meal over her head because she wasn’t eating fast enough.

The girl said her father walked in the bathroom of the racquetball court where the incident happened, inquired about it and “just sort of rolled his eyes and wouldn’t do anything.”

The girl said the oatmeal made her feel like throwing up. “It was hard to swallow,” she said. “But I had to finish it.”

In another development, the girl testified that sometimes she was locked in the bathroom of the $75,000 racquetball court for more than a week at a time without being let out. Furthermore, she said her mother insisted that she remain seated on the stool of the toilet--and not the floor--during this incarceration.

Additionally, the girl also told the jury that when her parents were out of town, several of her older siblings occasionally guarded her as she was jailed in the racquetball court bathroom.

Several days before neighbors reported their suspicions of child abuse at the house, she said her parents had finally ordered her out of the home.

“My dad said like an employee being fired from a job, you are being fired from this family,” she said.

Outside court, Corona said she believes the girl’s testimony, but will not seek to file charges against any other family members. The girl has six siblings, including several who are older.

The trial will resume Monday, when the girl will again take the stand.