Pair Convicted of Neglect in Baby’s Rat-Bite Death : Courts: Homeless couple’s son was found dead in a trash-strewn station wagon in August. The jury deadlocked on an involuntary manslaughter charge, and prosecutors say a retrial is unlikely.

A homeless couple whose infant son was bitten 110 times by a starving pet rat was convicted Friday of child neglect charges, but jurors deadlocked on whether the parents also were guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Defense attorneys for Kathyleen and Steven Giguere Sr. said they believe the jury’s verdict was a partial vindication of their clients. “It’s bad enough that they lost their baby, but to have a jury say that you killed your baby and to have to live with that for rest of their lives was really weighing on their minds,” said defense attorney Salvatore Ciulla.

The couple was arrested after their 4-month-old son, Steven Jr., was found dead Aug. 26 in a trash-strewn, roach-infested station wagon where the family lived with a pet rat named Homer.

Kathyleen, 31, and Steven Giguere Sr., 28, face up to six years in prison when they are sentenced July 18. Under sentencing guidelines, they would not face any additional prison time if convicted of manslaughter charges.

As a result, it appears unlikely that prosecutors will seek a retrial on the outstanding count, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Tanizaki said that decision will be made before the sentencing.

After deliberating three days, jurors deadlocked 9 to 3 Friday in favor of convicting the couple of manslaughter.

Jury foreman Steve Markley said the case was a draining one for jurors, who pored over graphic autopsy photos of the infant’s mauled body and had to make tough judgments about parents who allowed their children to live in such filthy conditions. One woman on the jury appeared on the verge of tears as the verdict was announced.

“None of this was easy for anybody,” Markley said. “There was no way to get around emotions in this case.”

Jurors had little trouble finding the parents guilty of neglect, he said. During the trial, jurors heard testimony that the parents spent much of their money on liquor and junk food and were seemingly oblivious to their unkempt surroundings.

But jurors were unable to reconcile conflicting evidence on whether the rat had killed the infant.

Prosecutors contended that the child bled to death after the rat’s sharp teeth struck an artery. Defense attorneys said Steven Jr. died from sudden infant death syndrome before the rat attacked and called it a “freak accident.”

Dianne Giguere of La Mirada said she feels sympathy for her son, Steven Sr., and daughter-in-law but said the couple is responsible for her grandson’s death.

“I feel they should have been found guilty for what happened to the baby,” Dianne Giguere said, adding that the couple have lived irresponsibly over the years. “It’s very hard to look at them, you think how could they do this to their child.”

Blood tests show that the parents had traces of the drug methamphetamine in their systems at the time of the death, and the father admitted using marijuana the day before the baby died. Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino barred testimony about drug use, saying it would be too prejudicial to the parents.

At the time of the death, the parents were living in their car with Steven Jr. and their 3-year-old daughter, Karissa, who now lives with her grandparents. Kathyleen Giguere also has a young daughter in foster care in Los Angeles, officials said.

Also living in the car was Homer the rat, who measured about 12 inches from nose to tail, and had free roam of the vehicle. The rat was in the advanced stages of starvation and was also dehydrated when it attacked the child.

The prosecutor told jurors the Gigueres were well aware of the rat’s history of biting people and even warned friends to be careful around Homer. Yet the couple left the rodent alone in the car with a helpless, 4-month-old infant, he told jurors.

Friends, former neighbors and even Steven Giguere Sr.’s parents testified that the couple would allow spoiled food to sit around for weeks. Officials talked about the stench that filled the car, which was strewn with soiled clothing, dirty diapers, rat feces, gnats, flies and roaches.

The conditions so alarmed those who knew the Gigueres that Orange County Social Service workers were repeatedly asked to investigate the couple. Even the grandparents reported them shortly before the baby’s death.

But each time, social service workers decided there was insufficient evidence that the children were being abused or in danger. Prosecution experts also conceded during the trial that Steven Jr. seemed well-fed and and showed no signs of physical abuse. As for a last complaint filed by the child’s grandparents just before the death, social service workers said they were unable to locate the transient couple.