Rat’s Bites in Artery Killed Infant, Pathologist Testifies : Courts: Jury is told that autopsy showed boy was alive when starving pet turned on him in car where family was living. His parents’ attorneys say baby was already dead.

A 4-month-old boy died after being bitten more than 100 times by a starving pet rat whose sharp teeth struck a major artery in the infant’s arm, a forensic pathologist testified Thursday.

Defense attorneys for the baby’s parents contend that Steven Giguere Jr., was already dead when the rodent turned on the boy in the front seat of the station wagon where the family was living.

But pathologist Joseph Halka told an Orange County jury that the bruising, discoloration and inflammation around the bite marks prove the child was alive when the attack occurred. Halka, who performed the autopsy, said the infant died after suffering “blood loss due to the rodent bites.”

The boy’s parents, Kathyleen and Steven Giguere Sr., face up to six years in prison each if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment charges. The attack occurred in an Anaheim parking lot last August, when the couple was homeless and living in their car with Steven Jr., their 3-year-old daughter, Karissa, and the pet rat named Homer.

The pathologist testified that Steven Jr. appeared to have been a well-fed and healthy infant.

The Superior Court jury must decide whether the Gigueres were criminally negligent in allowing the rat--which had a history of biting people--to roam free around the children.

The child was declared dead about 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 26. Halka told jurors the attack began two to four hours earlier.