Family: Woman in Torture Case Was Depressed : Courts: Aunt and sister of Cynthia Medina testify she was withdrawn in the weeks before the alleged abuse of her nephew.

Cynthia Medina was depressed and withdrawn, sometimes not leaving her home for days, in the weeks before she allegedly tortured and abused her 10-year-old nephew to near death, the woman’s relatives testified Thursday.

“She’d call me and she’d be crying,” said Ernestine Garcia, one of Medina’s sisters, who broke down in tears several times during her testimony. “I’d go over. But she didn’t want to come out of her room.”

The testimony came Thursday as Medina’s attorney, Richard Gilbert, presented the defense’s side of the case, focusing on his client’s mental state at the time of the alleged abuse.

The 32-year-old Orange woman, a former playground supervisor, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges that she tortured and abused her nephew, including placing heated butter knives on his tongue and using a small, souvenir baseball bat to anally penetrate him. Authorities said the beating was so severe that the boy was hospitalized for a month and was temporarily fitted with a colostomy bag.

The boy testified Wednesday that his aunt beat him Sept. 7 after accusing him of playing with an ashtray he said contained “weed.”

The case marks the first time torture charges have been filed in an Orange County child-abuse case. Medina also is charged with abusing her nephew, who was living with the woman and her husband, and with abusing her 9-year-old son in the year before her arrest in September.

Under questioning from Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Middleton, Garcia said she realizes “something happened” to her nephew, but said about her sister: “I couldn’t see her doing that. I couldn’t believe it. It was out of her character.”

Earlier she had sobbed: “I don’t know how to feel. I don’t hate my sister.”

Irene Cervantes, Medina’s aunt, said she also found her niece “depressed” in September.

“She was worrying about a lot of stuff,” Cervantes testified, describing her niece at one point as someone who was “ready to give all the time.”

Later, calling two more witnesses to testify, Gilbert raised questions about whether Medina was in control of herself when she allegedly abused her nephew and whether her nephew was telling the truth about how he was injured.

Under questioning from Gilbert, Gene Howard, director of county Children’s Services, agreed that in some instances of child abuse, the abuser “loses control” of him or herself. But objections by the prosecutor prevented him from answering Gilbert’s follow-up question about whether he believed Medina was an example of an abuser who lost control.

Outside the courtroom, Gilbert said that question goes to the heart of his defense. Gilbert said he believes Medina cannot be convicted because she was not responsible for her actions.

“You can’t convict someone in a case like this when the person loses control,” Gilbert said.

“This is a specific-intent crime,” he said. “The prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt not just that the child was injured, but that Cynthia had specific intent. Yet, if she was out of control, she couldn’t have had specific intent.”

Middleton said Gilbert was stretching what one normally means by “losing control” to fit his insanity defense.

“Losing control doesn’t mean you’re legally insane,” Middleton said. “One can always prostitute the meaning of certain terms and say ‘insanity’ when it really isn’t.”

Middleton said the boy, who is in foster care and attending school, is doing well physically but has obvious psychological scars from the trauma. Medina’s son is in the custody of his grandparents.

“Testifying is hard on him,” Middleton said of the nephew. “He has shown anger at different stages along the way--outbursts, yelling and crying at people with him. The boy is very lonely.”

If the Superior Court jury finds Medina guilty as charged, a second phase of the trial will be held to determine her sanity. If convicted and found sane, she could face life in prison on the torture charge.