Dad, partner plead not guilty in boy’s N.M. compound death

TAOS, N.M. — The father of a 3-year-old boy found dead in a filthy New Mexico compound earlier this month pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of child abuse resulting in death as lesser charges were dismissed against him and other members of his extended family because of a deadline missed by prosecutors.

The dead boy’s father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and his partner Jany Leveille, who also is charged with the same crime, remained silent as pleas were entered on their behalf. The charges could carry life sentences in the death of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj.

Their pleas followed a decision by a judge to dismiss initial child neglect charges against them. Another judge made the same decision in the cases of the other three defendants earlier Wednesday.

The five were arrested this month at a desert compound where 11 children were living in filth and the body of the 3-year-old boy was discovered.

Authorities say Wahhaj and Leveille denied the boy proper medicine and health care as he died in December 2017 during a religious ritual aimed at casting out demonic spirits.

Prosecutors had pressed to keep the group in jail and planned to present new evidence of an anti-government plot and talk of jihad and martyrdom among some members of the extended Muslim family.

In the case of the other three defendants, a judge ruled they could be released as early as Wednesday depending on what action prosecutors take.

Prosecutor John Lovelace said no decisions have been made on how the district attorney’s office will proceed.