Death Sought for Father of 2 Slain Children

Prosecutors filed capital murder charges Wednesday against a Pacoima man accused of beating his son and daughter to death and filed murder charges against the defendant’s wife and her sister for allegedly failing to intervene.

Marcos Esquivel could be executed if found guilty of torturing his two children before killing them and burying them in Angeles National Forest, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dave Mintz said.

“The circumstances were so horrific that it amounted to intentional torture by [Esquivel] to both children,” he said.

Unlike the case of UC Berkeley student David Cash, who failed to help 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson when she was assaulted, and then slain, in a Nevada casino, the women had a legal duty to stop the abuse, Mintz said.

“The difference is that these women were the parents and caretakers of these children, and not only did they have a moral and ethical responsibility to care for their children, they also had a legal duty to protect the children,” he said.

Medical examiners have said that Ernesto Esquivel, 5, and Guadalupe Esquivel, 2, were victims of chronic child abuse and that both showed signs of malnutrition.

Assistant Public Defender Arthur Braudrick, who is defending Esquivel, said his client is “quite upset and quite remorseful.” He also said the evidence may not support the latest charges.

Mintz also filed murder charges against Esquivel’s wife and her sister, who together bore him 14 children. Until now, Maria and Petra Ricardo had only faced charges of child endangerment, for allegedly not protecting the children, and accessory to murder, for allegedly having helped hide the slayings after they were committed.

Mintz said the women are responsible for the children’s deaths because they did nothing to help them as their father beat them over and over until they died.

“It’s not alleged that either of them actually abused their children,” Mintz said. “The charges are based on their failure to protect the children from the ongoing and fatal abuse they suffered.”

Philip Nameth, who is representing Maria Ricardo, called the charges “overreaching” and said he does not understand the prosecution’s theory.

“I commend Mr. Mintz on his creativity and his theory, but I don’t think that the law supports it,” Nameth said. “It’s unfounded.”

Defense lawyers have tried to portray the sisters as battered women who were so controlled by the man they shared that they could not stop him from beating his children to death.

Esquivel and Maria Ricardo were arrested in March after authorities found them and several children burying Ernesto in Angeles Forest.

Petra Ricardo was arrested by Los Angeles sheriff’s detectives in May, after her 13-year-old son allegedly told authorities that Ernesto was actually the second sibling his father had killed and buried. The boy, Jose Antonio Esquivel, led detectives to the body of his sister Guadalupe, who was buried in the same forest.

Ernesto suffered a broken arm and leg, and 14 of his 24 ribs had been fractured and were in various stages of healing when he died, authorities said.

Guadalupe had suffered a broken arm, broken legs, and a broken collarbone in the weeks or months before her death. The girl was killed when her head was pounded by or against a hard object with enough force to crack her skull open, authorities said.

Jose Antonio testified during a preliminary hearing that their father screamed at the children and beat them nearly every day for everything from not selling enough corn to crying. Most of the beatings were of Guadalupe and Ernesto, who were Petra Ricardo’s children, he said.

Jose Antonio said Ernesto was hit with a metal wire and a broomstick because he couldn’t speak properly. He said his brother died after their father kicked him in the head because Ernesto, weakened by injuries from prior abuse, was falling asleep while he was being fed.

Jose Antonio said Guadalupe died the day their father beat and kicked her, hurled her into a tub of cold water and slammed her against a wall because she wet the bed.

His testimony also revealed a life of hard work, in which children were forced to sell corn from street carts until late at night. He said his mother and aunt, like the children, were afraid of Esquivel and never crossed him.

But Mintz insisted that the women shirked their parental responsibility. Petra Ricardo allowed five of her children to live with their father even though she knew he was abusive and Maria Ricardo only watched as the children were beaten.