Bail lowered for grandmother in tot’s death
To believe San Antonio prosecutors, Beatrice Sampayo is a scheming, habitual liar who covered for her son after his 8-month-old baby, King Jay Davila, died of blunt-force trauma.
Her defense lawyers say, to the contrary, the 64-year-old grandmother is innocent and largely confined to her bed as she battles terminal cancer.
At a hearing Friday in which Sampayo, accused of tampering with evidence, made her first court appearance, she was granted a lower bail, $50,000, making it likely she’ll go home after nearly a month in jail since her arrest Jan. 10.
But first, prosecutor Samantha DiMaio called Sampayo a “danger to society” and urged Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers to reject the lower bail. She introduced evidence, including several videos, to counter Sampayo’s claim she is gravely ill and to show that Sampayo has previously concealed a crime by her son, Christopher Davila.
“What we have is a pattern of behavior by this defendant of basically being a liar and using her lies to cover up crimes,” DiMaio said.
Melissa Lesniak, Sampayo’s court-appointed lawyer, said Sampayo has ovarian and bone cancer and, prior to her incarceration, received hospice care. As the matriarch of a large family — four children, 33 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren — she is not a flight risk, Lesniak said. Sampayo was in a wheelchair throughout the hearing Friday.
In the end, Carruthers lowered Sampayo’s bail from $250,000 to $50,000 and required that she get regular drug and alcohol testing while awaiting trial.
According to San Antonio police, Sampayo helped her 34-yearold son stage the theft of his car on Jan. 4 to make it look like King Jay, who purportedly was in a car seat inside the vehicle, had been abducted and was missing.
Police saw through the scheme quickly and confronted him. Within days, police said Davila took them to a field on the Northwest Side where they found King Jay’s body, wrapped in a blanket and placed inside a backpack, buried in the ground.
Father being held
Police have charged Davila with injury to a child, child endangerment, tampering with evidence, possession of a controlled substance and felon in possession of a firearm. He remains in jail in lieu of a $1.25 million bond.
Police say Davila’s cousin, Angie Torres, 45, also helped stage the car theft and kidnapping and is accused of tampering with evidence.
Davila now says King Jay died after he fell off a bed while in his car seat. He says he did not call 911 because he panicked.
Police officials have hinted that they do not believe Davila’s latest account, and the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded, based on King Jay’s autopsy, that his death was a homicide.
During the hearing, Jorge Luna, a social worker from Trinity Hospice San Antonio, testified that Sampayo was accepted into hospice care in June after a doctor diagnosed her with ovarian and bone cancer and determined that the diagnosis was terminal.
Since then, Luna said he visited Sampayo at her West Side home about 20 times to provide emotional and spiritual support. During his visits, Luna said Sampayo stayed in bed and reported having a lot of pain.
During cross examination, DiMaio asked Luna whether he would be surprised to learn that Sampayo was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and that she was capable of driving and grocery shopping.
“That would be a surprise,” Luna said.
DiMaio also asked Luna whether he was aware that members of Sampayo’s family — many of whom live with her or visit regularly — were “drug addicts” who attempted to get access to Sampayo’s medication.
He said he was aware of that concern and that nurses with Hospice San Antonio kept Sampayo’s prescriptions — including fentanyl, methadone and morphine — in a locked container. He said only Sampayo had the key.
“We took precautions because that was a suspicion,” he said. “For a time, that was a concern.”
‘She lied’
After Luna’s testimony, DiMaio showed videos from Jan. 4, the day Davila reported that King Jay had been kidnapped.
According to DiMaio, Sampayo is seen driving a car to a donation drop-off bin on Acme Road, opening the rear passenger door and removing a car seat.
In a second video, Sampayo can be seen returning to the donation station moments later, picking up the car seat and driving away, DiMaio said. Police later found the car seat three blocks away.
DNA results ruled the car seat belonged to King Jay, DiMaio said.
She showed more videos in which Sampayo enters a convenience store, buys gas and picks up groceries, including a large bottle of soda. She is not using a wheelchair, cane or walker for assistance.
DiMaio said the images prove that Sampayo is not as ill as she claims. To Lesniak, the videos merely show that Sampayo is mobile.
DiMaio continued her case against Sampayo by drawing on criminal records.
In June 1998, DiMaio said, Sampayo was arrested for theft after she attempted to sell a computer that Davila had stolen from Judson Independent School District. Officials also suspected that Davila had tried to set fire to the school.
“She lied at that time, saying to some witnesses that he committed the fire and to other witnesses that, ‘Oh, he was at the hospital with me,’ ” DiMaio said. “Even then, she was using her medical condition to cover up the crimes that he committed.”
In May 1999, Davila was convicted of arson and incarcerated in a juvenile correctional facility, records show. The theft case against Sampayo was dismissed.
About that same time, Sampayo was charged with obtaining prescriptions by fraud. She pleaded guilty and was put on probation.
“She was lying, and she was committing fraud,” DiMaio said. “And she has graduated from lying for her son for theft and burglary and arson to now homicide.”
Lesniak acknowledged that Sampayo had a short criminal record but no convictions recently.
“The accused’s physical condition is deteriorating rapidly,” she wrote in a motion to reduce bail. “The more time that elapses, the less likely she will be able to make any recovery, if that is even possible at this time.”
Sampayo said little during the hearing. At one point, she turned around to acknowledge her husband, Mario Davila, and her daughters, Amy Davila Ozuna and Christina Sampayo Davila.
As Sampayo was led out of court, Davila Ozuna yelled across the courtroom: “I love you, Mom.”