SAN DIEGO (CN) - A San Diego prosecutor portrayed the father of a 4-month-old baby who died of starvation as an unwilling parent who saw the obvious signs of malnourishment but actively prevented her care.
Deputy District Attorney Franciesca Balerio described 25-year-old Brandon Copeland as consciously aware of his daughter's worsening condition during closing arguments on Tuesday.
"Trying isn't enough. An infant needs food, every day," Balerio told jurors. "Instead of feeding her, he would put blankets or sweatshirts over her face to muffle her hungry crying. Sometimes she would be lying in her own poop for hours. Maybe days."
Copeland is charged with second-degree murder along with baby Delilah's mother, Elizabeth Ucman, 26. Both were arrested the day after San Diego police were called to their apartment and found the baby emaciated, pale and not breathing on Nov. 9, 2021.
Copeland and Ucman were originally facing 25 years to life in prison for first-degree murder, but the charge has since been dropped to second-degree murder. Jurors may also convict them of the lesser charge of manslaughter, which carries a maximum four-year sentence. Both have been in custody for more than four years.
Balerio instructed the jurors to look at the photos presented of Delilah with her ribs protruding, eyes sunken in and diaper sagging off her body.
"Not only can you see her entire chest wall - you can see the outline of her abdominal organs from the outside," Balerio said. "She had a pressure sore on her butt on the back from not being moved. This is typical of an elderly person who is incapable of moving."
Testimony from doctors and pediatricians showed that Delilah weighed 3 pounds and 10 ounces at her death, which was less than half her birth weight of 7 pounds and 4 ounces. She should have weighed at least 10 pounds, Balerio said.
"You can see the pain in her face," Balerio said of a photo taken of Delilah 12 days before her death. "Look at the condition of her body. Can we say defendant Copeland knew she was in danger?"
Other photos and video evidence showed their apartment in the City Heights neighborhood filled with trash, spoiled food and animal feces.
Social workers assigned to Ucman and Copeland tried to make contact with them via phone call, text message and drop-in visits, but they routinely avoided, according to evidence presented in court by the prosecutor. The couple told the social workers that they were in Los Angeles in October, but Balerio said this was just an excuse to avoid their responsibilities as parents.
The parents had cut off contact with members of their family after a disagreement over Delilah's care in August.
"We know they were never in Los Angeles," she said. "They were [home] the whole time."
Ucman worked on a part-time basis, but Copeland was unemployed.
Family members of Ucman, present in the courtroom on Monday and Tuesday, described the pair as incompetent parents who were unwilling to take care of their child.
"You couldn't get them to do shit," Annie Chapman told Courthouse News on Monday.
Chapman described Copeland as a manipulator who threatened her life on multiple occasions.
"She finally found love, and she did not want to let that go," Chapman said of her niece, who she described as a younger sister.
Chapman, who cared for Delilah in the first few weeks of her brief life, said she hopes for the maximum punishment for both defendants.
Delilah had been gaining weight normally up until a Sept. 20 doctor's visit, when she lost more than a pound of her previous weight. That was the last date anyone outside of Delilah's family saw her.
"In this case, there's clear evidence that Copeland knew that Delilah's life was in danger and he ignored it," Balerio said. "He actively prevented and prohibited other people from intervening and trying to save her."
Copeland's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Courtney Cutter, accused the prosecution of tugging at the heartstrings of the jury by repeatedly showing images of Delilah's skeletal body.
"I can see what it does to you," Cutter told the jurors. "That's purposeful. It's being put up there to make you feel angry, but it misses the question. Why did this happen? ... They can have failed to be parents without being malicious and being murderers. Don't let your feelings get in the way of this."
Cutter accused several witnesses who testified - social workers, doctors and police - of lying or misrepresenting the truth to cover their own mistakes. Throughout the trial, Cutter accused the social workers from San Diego Youth Services and San Diego County Child and Family Well-Being of routinely fabricating their case notes.
"Prosecutions are based on evidence," she argued. "Evidence includes records. If records are wrong and false, it prevents justice from being done."
Defense attorneys have attempted to frame the death of Delilah as a failure of a broken safety net.
According to Cutter, Delilah had been on the social workers' radar for almost her entire life, and yet there were no welfare checks from police and few other attempts to intervene. If they had done their jobs, Delilah would still be alive, she said.
"The folks employed and trained to protect children in risky situations, to aid families without a village, to be their village, completely dropped the ball," she told jurors.
Copeland and Ucman's attorneys also relied on mental health diagnoses of the pair, who grew up in abusive households, attorneys said. Copeland was diagnosed with depression, PTSD and autism.
Copeland would often put his headphones on and shut himself in a bedroom of the apartment, away from his daughter, Cutter said. But his attempts to care for Delilah, however poor, were not malicious, she said.
Copeland was captured on video while in police custody, with Ucman admitting to guilt in neglecting her.
"That's true," Cutter said. "He's acknowledging the truth here. He's acknowledging what the lies didn't cover. He's admitting having neglected her. It's not a confession to murder."
In its rebuttal, the prosecution defended repeatedly showing the photo of Delilah's dead body to the jury.
"I have put this photo up again, and I'll do it again," Balerio said. "This is evidence of a crime. This is evidence of what happened to Delilah - the condition of her body - what Copeland was looking at every day."
The photo isn't meant to incite anger, but rather to present the facts, she said.
"It is horrific, but that is what the defendant was ignoring," she said.
She rejected the argument that Copeland was suffering from mental illness, saying that there are people worse off than him who manage to raise children.
She also rejected the defense's argument that the systems had failed Delilah. There were numerous people, including Ucman's family, who offered to help.
Delilah's decline after her Sept. 20 doctor's visit unfolded before Copeland's eyes with his knowledge, she said.
"She displayed obvious signs of distress," she told the jury. "Defendant didn't miss it. He lived with it. That's why this is murder, not manslaughter. Hold the defendant responsible for his actions."
A jury for Copeland will begin its deliberations on Wednesday. A jury for Ucman began deliberating on Monday afternoon.
The verdicts for both defendants will be announced separately.
Source: Courthouse News Service
