Mom guilty in deadly abuse of son

EPHRATA, Wash. – A Grant County judge on Wednesday convicted Maribel Gomez in the 2003 homicide-by-abuse death of her 2-year-old son, who spent more than half his life in foster care.

Superior Court Judge John Antosz heard the trial from the bench after Gomez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, waived her right to a trial by jury.

He convicted the 32-year-old Ephrata woman on both of the charges she faced – homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter. Gomez wailed as she was led from the courtroom by law enforcement officers.

Antosz read for about an hour from 14 pages of notes before finding Gomez recklessly and with extreme indifference to human life caused her son’s death after a pattern of assaults.

Rafael “Raffy” Gomez died Sept. 10, 2003, a day after his mother said her son violently fell backward and hit his head during a tantrum over food. Prosecutors said the boy died of blunt trauma to the head inflicted by his abusive mother.

Sentencing was tentatively set for Tuesday. Gomez faces up to 26 years in prison in a case that spotlighted failures in the state’s foster care system.

An autopsy indicated the 25-month-old toddler had suffered two broken legs, as many as four skull fractures, shoulder separations, burns and other injuries during his short life.