A mother from Oregon is currently facing a murder trial in the 2012 death of her 4-year-old son, whom she allegedly killed because she thought he was gay.
Jessica Dutro, 25, was charged with murder by abuse and second-degree assault for repeatedly beating her son, Zachary Dutro-Boggess, The Oregonian reported. Prosecutors told the court Wednesday she did it because she was upset about his perceived homosexuality.
Dutro's boyfriend, Brian Canady, was also charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault in the child's death. Canady pleaded guilty this month and admitted to kicking him in the abdomen with his shoes on, The Portland Tribune reported.
The child was taken to a hospital in Portland on Aug. 14, 2012 with life threatening trauma to his abdomen that caused his bowels to tear, The Oregonian reported. He died two days later after he was taken off life support. Officials said the child would have survived if he had received medical attention, The Portland Tribune reported.
Prosecutors say that a Facebook message Dutro wrote to Canady shows evidence of her intent to abuse him.
Dutro wrote her son was "facing the wall" because he made her upset. The child was going to be gay, Dutro wrote, and that "He walks and talks like it. Ugh," according to The Oregonian. The mother wrote that Canady would have to "work on" her son.
The defendant is also accused of beating her two other children, a 7-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. Dutro ran her family "like an army," prosecutors said.
But Dutro's defense attorney, Chris Colburn, said his client may be an odd parent, but she is not a murderer.
"By the end of this trial, you will have heard no credible evidence that Jessica Dutro assaulted and killed Zachary," Colburn said, The Oregonian reported. "We will ask you to find her not guilty of the charges she now faces."
