Published: May 06, 2008 11:43 am            

How many years?

Jurors hold fate of convicted abuser of kids in their hands

Jurors who will decide the punishment of convicted child abuser Cesar Mojica heard testimony Monday that the 24-year-old former Dripping Springs resident had gang ties before coming to Texas and misbehaved in jail even as this trial progressed.

But the panel also spent a lot of time outside District Judge Jack Robin's courtroom as prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over issues including admissibility of evidence (and paring it down), and the credibility and weight of testimony from an out-of-state expert.

Proceedings were scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. but jurors didn't enter the courtroom until more than an hour later as both sides discussed a piece of metal and a pair of nailclippers discovered by jailers in the light fixtures in Mojica's cell.

The so-called "shanks" and drawings Mojica had made on his cell walls were discovered April 25, the Friday that marked the end of the second week of his trial, witnesses testified.

The drawings were photographed and a state witness, Stefan Gaes a Gang Investigator with the Addison, Ill. Police Department, said they contained references to a street gang in the Addison and Chicago area, where Mojica lived before moving to Texas.

Gaes testified that Mojica was aligned with the gang Latin Counts, and that letters and symbols in photographs of Mojica's cell walls — including one of a naked woman — reinforced that he still held that alliance.

Gaes pointed to the initials "L C," five-pointed stars and what he said was Mojica's gang moniker, "Payaso," which means clown or joker in Spanish, illustrated on the woman's abdomen, breast and neck, as well as in other photographs of his cell.

There was also another drawing, of a clown-type face, in the cell, testimony revealed.

Mojica was convicted April 24 of 14 counts of first-degree felony jury to a child for bites, broken bones, whip marks, dental injuries and insufficient feeding of the three children he had with Sarah Amaya, who is also charged and remains in Hays County Jail awaiting trial.

The "joker" theme was also exhibited in a tattoo on Mojica's left shoulder which Gaes testified was consistent with the Latin Count's adherence to the edict of a larger gang affiliation, the "Peoples," which he said always "represented" on the left side of their body, whether through something as obvious as a tattoo or something as subtle as a ball cap turned to the left.

Gaes testified that Mojica was a known gang member in the Addison area because he lived in the area identified with the Latin Counts, adopted their "colors" and was known to accompany known gang members.

But the records he cited, going back to when Mojica was a freshman in high school, revealed only minor scrapes with the law and that none were directly gang-related.

Jurors were sent from the courtroom multiple times as attorneys haggled over photographs of Mojica's cell and of the tattoos on his body.

For the first time in the going on three-week trial, attention was turned to Mojica away from his three children, who jurors decided were tortured and starved while the family lived in a filthy Dripping Springs mobile home.

His daughter Angel, who was three when seized from her parents' home in October 2006, and twins Amber and Cesar Jr., who were three, could suffer long term emotional and physical infirmities, witnesses have testified.

Testimony continues today at the Hays County Justice Center.

        

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