LOS ANGELES (TCN) — A 36-year-old mother, sentenced along with her boyfriend to life in prison in 2023 for torturing and killing her 10-year-old son, is seeking a new sentence.
Heather Maxine Barron’s sentencing was announced on April 25, 2023. Barron pleaded guilty the previous month to first-degree murder, torture, and child abuse during a bench trial. Her boyfriend, Kareem Leiva, was sentenced the same day; both received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
According to prosecutors, Barron’s son, Anthony Avalos, was tortured for five days before his death in June 2018. The district attorney’s office said Barron and Leiva poured hot sauce on Avalos’ face and mouth, whipped him, held him upside down and dropped him onto his head, withheld food, refused to let him go to the bathroom, and had other children help them inflict pain…