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Trial begins for mother accused of beating, strangling 7-month-old son![]()
SAN
DIEGO - An Ethiopian woman who told a therapist she had anger and
impulse issues should be convicted of murder for strangling her baby
son, a prosecutor said Monday, but her attorney argued that she imagined
that the 7- month-old fell out of a third-story window.
Deputy
District Attorney Nicole Rooney told a jury in her opening statement of
trial that Zewoinesh Badasso strangled her son in two ways – with her
hands and with a ligature – on Sept. 7, 2012.
Rooney said Badasso
grabbed, squeezed and shook the baby before killing him. The defendant
has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prior to the killing,
Badasso, 35, told a therapist that she had anger issues, a history of
violence and had difficulty controlling her impulses, according to
Rooney.
The boy -- named David -- was found about 5 p.m. by two
passersby in an alley below a third-story apartment where Badasso was
staying. "Please let that be a doll and not a baby," one of the
passersby said as they came upon the child, Rooney told the jury.