South Pasadena father convicted of assault in newborn son's death

SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. (CNS) -- A South Pasadena man was convicted Tuesday of assault on a child causing death involving his newborn son, whom prosecutors contended was suffocated and died months later after being taken off life support.

Jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of guilt on another charge -- murder -- against Christopher Richmond involving the death of his son, Cash, according to Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami.

Richmond, 31, was also convicted of domestic battery with injury, but acquitted of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury -- both involving the baby's mother in April 2022 and August 2021, respectively.

Richmond is facing 26 years to life in state prison, with sentencing set Dec. 13 in a Pasadena courtroom, according to Hatami.

"After more than a three-year journey, there is finally some justice for 7-week-old baby Cash, his mom Candice, his grandma Kathy, his brother Anthony, and the entire Alhambra and Pasadena communities,'' Hatami said after the jury's verdict.

"We would like to personally thank the jurors for their dedicated service. We are also incredibly grateful to the South Pasadena Police Department and ...[the Sheriff's] Homicide Bureau for their commitment to justice and hard work on this case. Cash's life mattered and he will never be forgotten.''

A decision is expected to be made after the sentencing on whether the prosecution will seek a retrial for Richmond on the murder charge, the prosecutor said.

"We will likely not retry count 1 as long as the defendant is sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison,'' Hatami said, referring to the murder charge. "However, we will decide that after sentencing.''

In opening statements last month, Deputy District Attorney Brian Rosenberg urged jurors to hold Richmond "accountable'' for his son's death, while the defendant's attorney accused law enforcement of jumping to conclusions about his client and failing to conduct an adequate investigation.

Rosenberg told the jury that a 911 call on Sept. 25, 2022, in which Richmond reported that the 7-week-old boy had stopped breathing while he was feeding him a baby bottle of milk was "eerie'' because the defendant was "acting calm'' and "acting like he doesn't care.''

Richmond can be heard in the 911 recording telling a dispatcher that he had waited 15 to 20 minutes to call 911 -- an estimate he subsequently lowered to five minutes during a February 2023 hearing over the boy's custody, according to the prosecutor.

Rosenberg said the defendant, who had been left to care for the child when the baby's mother was at work, refused to go into his son's hospital room, and fought her efforts to end life support for the boy no matter what his prognosis was or what the doctors had recommended.

The baby -- whom the prosecutor said fought to live for four months -- ended up dying when he was six months and 15 days old on Feb. 17, 2023, after being taken off life support. An autopsy determined that the boy died of multiple blunt traumatic injuries.

A doctor at Mattel Children's Hospital subsequently determined that X-rays she examined of the boy showed that he had two prior incidents involving broken ribs, according to the prosecutor, who said the boy had also suffered a broken leg and a cervical fracture in which he was "shaken to the point of breaking his neck.''

"... Hold him accountable for his actions,'' the deputy district attorney told jurors.

Defense attorney Michael Hawkins told jurors accused investigators of a "rush to judgment,'' saying that jurors are "going to be wanting more from that investigation.''

"We know Cash was abused. We know Cash sustained injuries ... Who caused the injuries to Cash?'' he said. "We've got to figure out what happened to Cash.''

Richmond's attorney said his client had been portrayed by the prosecutor as "this callous, murderous monster,'' but described him instead as a first-time father who was "happy'' to be a parent and had only previously been heard raising his voice at the boy to tell him to "stop crying.''

"Why would Chris intentionally kill his 7-week-old baby?'' the defense lawyer asked the panel.

Hawkins told jurors that there was no evidence to suggest that the baby had been crying that day, saying that his client was feeding his son a bottle of milk and that Richmond called the baby's mother first to report what had happened before she told him to call 911.

The defense lawyer told jurors that investigators presumed Richmond was guilty after a "simple adoption'' of the mother's version of the events.

Hawkins described Richmond as being "great with children,'' and said Richmond "shuts down'' in stressful situations -- in an effort to explain his demeanor during the 911 call.

In testimony at the start of the trial, one 911 dispatcher, Samantha Munoz, described Richmond as "oddly calm'' during his 911 call.

Another 911 dispatcher, Patricia Velasco said, "It's the one call that I still carry with me. Everything from start to finish it was just an odd call ... Speaking to the father, he was so calm.''

South Pasadena Fire Department Firefighter/Paramedic John Papadakis described the boy's mother as "hysterical and crying,'' and Richmond as very "calm and stoic.''

Under cross-examination, each of the witnesses acknowledged that they had never talked with Richmond before and didn't know how he deals with stressful situations.

Jurors also saw a police officer's body-cam footage from the scene.

South Pasadena Police Department Officer Issac Gutierrez described the baby's mother as "just hysterical almost the entire time,'' while the boy's father appeared "just calm.'' The officer said he thought Richmond would have had a similar reaction to the baby's mother at seeing his child "lifeless on the ground.''

Richmond was arrested four days after his son was taken to the hospital, and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.

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