Parents’ Trial in Death of Child Bitten by Rat Nears End : Courts: Homeless pair is accused of letting pet rodent kill infant in trash-filled car. Defense tells jury they were guilty only of bad judgment, not manslaughter.

A defense attorney for a homeless couple accused of letting a pet rat kill their infant son told an Orange County Superior Court jury during closing arguments Monday that the parents were guilty of “bad judgment” but not involuntary manslaughter.

“This was a freak case,” attorney Sal Ciulla said. “It’s so ridiculously wild that no one has ever heard of this before. . . . The parents never in a million years thought this could happen.”

Ciulla and his co-counsel, William Watson, told the jury that Kathyleen and Steven Giguere Sr. may not have been the best parents around, but neither were they criminally culpable.

“This was an unforeseen event,” Watson said. “In its worst case, it’s an accident.”

But the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty Jim Tanizaki, told the jury that the Gigueres had plenty of warning that the rat, which was living with them and roaming free in the family’s trash filled station wagon, was vicious and a presented a danger to their 4-month-old son Steven Jr. and 3-year-old daughter.

The prosecution alleges that Steven Jr. bled to death after the starving rat, known to the family as Homer, bit the boy more than 100 times. The couple are on trial for involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment and face up to six years if convicted in the August, 1993, incident. To prove the charges, the prosecution must show that the parents acted negligently, could reasonably have foreseen the danger, and disregarded it.

Tanizaki told the jury the rat had a history of biting people and the Gigueres were well aware of it.

“They were warning their friends of the danger,” Tanizaki said. “They were more concerned about their friends than the safety of their own children.

” . . . This case is not about remorse. . . . I know they feel bad,” Tanizaki told the jury. “We’re not looking at post-mortem grief. . . . This case is about parents’ responsibility.”

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The prosecutor added that the couple was also negligent in allowing their two children to live in a car that was strewn with rotten food, soiled diapers and rat feces and was infested with gnats, flies and roaches.

“There was every kind of filth imaginable,” Tanizaki said. “It was like living in a trash bin. At least if you’re in a trash bin, it’s emptied every once in a while.”

Defense attorneys conceded that the living arrangement for the Gigueres was extremely dirty, but said it never got to the point where they were negligent parents. A social worker checked out the couple’s living situation but took no action, the attorneys said.

“Those kids were healthy,” Ciulla said. “They were well fed, well nourished . . . well clothed.”

The defense attorneys also disputed that Steven Jr. bled to death because of the rat bites. They contend the boy died of sudden infant death syndrome prior to the attack by the rat.

“The question in this case is when did the rat bite baby Steven,” Watson said. He added that there was ample evidence from defense experts that the infant was dead before the rat began biting his arm.

Closing arguments are expected to conclude this morning, with the jury starting its deliberations in the afternoon.