Trial of Man Accused of Raping, Murdering Baby Nears Close : Crime: Robert Brian Patalsky faces the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutor’s final arguments include gruesome details. Defense asks jury to be dispassionate.

Closing arguments began Wednesday in the trial of Robert Brian Patalsky, a Lancaster man accused of a 1991 crime the prosecutor told jurors was so horrific it was “almost impossible to believe.”

Patalsky is charged with the rape, sodomy and murder of his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter.

“We are here today to speak of the unspeakable,” Deputy Dist. Att. Robert B. Foltz Jr. said.

Patalsky, 26, a carpet cleaner and reputed methamphetamine user at the time of the crime, is charged with murder with special circumstances, in this case during the assault of the baby. He has pleaded not guilty.

Patalsky faces the death penalty if convicted.

Foltz’s argument included gruesome details of sexual penetration of the girl, Brianna Lee Schmidt, and the violent acts that led to her death.

Patalsky’s attorney, Ezekiel P. Perlo, encouraged the jury of seven men and five women to remain dispassionate despite the nature of the crime.

“I am confident that you will not reach an emotional result,” said Perlo, who encouraged jurors to consider that anger, not sexual assault, was the motivating factor behind the girl’s killing.

Under California law, Patalsky could not be sentenced to death unless it was decided he killed Brianna during the commission of another crime.

Brianna died, doctors said, as the result of being severely shaken.

The pallid-looking Patalsky, dressed in a black sport coat and khaki pants, sat expressionless as testimony of the trial was recalled and prosecutor Foltz painted him as a man lacking “any humanity.” His only reaction came at the end of the day, when he turned toward family members in the audience, smiled and mouthed greetings before being led away in handcuffs.

The girl died Nov. 30, 1991, shortly after Patalsky rushed her to a neighbor’s house, saying he had discovered her covered in vomit and breathing erratically. The girl’s mother, Renate M. Schmidt (who has since married and taken another name), and Patalsky’s mother had gone out shopping.

Doctors at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center and county coroner’s officials determined the girl had been raped and sodomized, noting abrasions to her vagina and anus. A single sperm cell was also found in her mouth. She died, doctors said, as the result of a brain injury caused by severe shaking.

In addition to posting a collection of graphic photographs of the dead child, prosecutor Foltz also read statements that Patalsky had allegedly made to police.

“If it happened, I did it. I was the only one there,” Patalsky said, according to one police report. “But I didn’t do it.”

Patalsky, who took the stand in his own defense, claimed he found the child in her playpen, covered in vomit and having difficulty breathing. According to his attorney, Patalsky testified he believed Brianna’s mother may have been responsible for the evidence of sexual assault.

The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations today.