On September 7, 1994 Cynthia Medina, 32, of Orange,
California, a former playground supervisor, become angry with her 9-year old
nephew when, according to the accusation she made against him, she found him playing with an ashtray full of
marijuana cigarette butts.” So she punished him. Her method was to heat “two
butter knives until they were red-hot and placed them on the boy's tongue.” But
that was no all. She then beat the child with electric cords and a miniature
wooden baseball bat. There was more. She took the bat she had battered him with
and inserted it into his rectum. She did this twice. The boy was near death
when police arrived to the crime scene. He had to have a colostomy bag
surgically implanted to save his life.
The boy maintains that the accusation that prompted the
torture was false.
Earlier incidents of abuse of Medina’s nephew were revealed
by the investigation. Medina had previously “broken his teeth by dashing his face
against a sink” and she had kicked him in the groin. Medina’s 9-year-old son
suffered a broken finger from a beating by his mother.
After indictment she pleaded not guilty by reason of
insanity, but two psychiatrists offered expert opinion that she was indeed sane.
On May 15, 1995, Medina was convicted of three crimes:
torture, which carries a mandatory life sentence, felony child abuse and
misdemeanor assault.
[Robert St. Estephe]
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Orange County Superior Court, Santa Ana, Ca.
Sept. 7, 1994 – discovery of the crimes.
Sep. 15, 1994 – Medina turned herself in to authorities
Thursday [Sep. 15] evening after the Orange County district attorney's office
filed one count of torture and four counts of felony child abuse her in
connection with a Sept. 7 incident.
May 15, 1995 – Medina convicted: torture, felony child
abuse.
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[Susan Marquez Owen & Anna Cekola, “Woman Convicted of
Torturing Nephew, Faces Life Sentence,” Los Angeles Times
(Ca.), May 17, 1995]
[“Bail Set At $100,000 Torture Case,” The San Bernardino
County Sun (Ca.), Sep. 17, 1994, Southland Sec., p. 3]
[1285-2/13/22]
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