Placer judge needs more time to decide if Roseville dad should stand trial in his son’s death

A Placer Superior Court judge on Friday said he needs more time to review evidence before deciding whether a Roseville father should stand trial for murder and torture in the death of his 9-year-old adopted son.

Cory Albert Blakley, 38, and Kimberly Rachel Blakley , 38, were the adoptive parents of the boy who has been identified by his family as Cyrus Blakley. The Placer County District Attorney’s Office filed charges of murder, torture and child abuse against both in connection with his death in February.

After testimony and evidence was presented in a three-day April preliminary hearing, Judge Jeffrey Penney ordered the Blakleys to stand trial on the murder, torture and child abuse charges , along with felony charges of dissuading witnesses. The prosecutors allege the parents told the children not to speak truthfully to investigators. The Blakleys also face misdemeanor charges of child endangerment.

But Cory Blakley, through his attorney, submitted a motion asking Judge Angus Saint-Evens to overturn Penny’s ruling. The father believes he shouldn’t face any charges in son’s death . His defense attorney, Barry Zimmerman, has argued it was his client’s wife who is solely responsible for the boy’s death.

The Blakleys were both in court Friday morning for what turned out to be a brief hearing. Saint-Evens said he needed more time to review video of evidence collected from Ring-brand cameras the Blakleys had installed in their home. The judge said he also needed more time to review court transcripts before ruling on the father’s motion to dismiss.

Because of scheduling conflicts, the attorneys in the murder case asked Saint-Evens to postpone Friday’s hearing to Nov. 15. That’s when the judge is expected to announce his decision.

Cyrus Blakley, who is identified in court documents as “CyB” or “CB,” died of “mechanical asphyxiation;” he suffocated to death, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow argued in filed court documents opposing the father’s motion for dismissal.

Prosecutors allege that the mother sat on her adopted 9-year-old son and beat him continuously for about 40 minutes as the boy’s father did nothing to stop it.

The defense attorney argued that prosecutors suggesting that the child’s death wouldn’t have happened had Cory Blakley intervened is “pure speculation.”

“Kimberly’s actions are the proximate cause of the child’s death,” Zimmerman wrote in his filed motion asking for the father’s charges to be dismissed. “Cory Blakley’s failure to call 911 or otherwise intervene is insufficient to hold him to answer for murder.”

The District Attorney’s Office argues that both parents were responsible for the boy’s death and the pain he suffered. In the April preliminary hearing, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Braden, the other prosecutor in the murder case, told Judge Penny that the boy’s mother tortured her son by sitting on the child, depriving him of oxygen and “continually beating” him.

Kimberly Blakley, 5-feet-7 and 200 pounds, sat on her son and repeatedly spanked him as he suffocated, according to the prosecution. The boy was 4-foot-5 and weighed 83 pounds

In court documents, Ow said Ring-brand cameras installed inside the family’s Roseville home captured sounds of the mother “striking” the child and the boy’s “repeated apologies, gasps for breath and cries that he could not breathe, followed by silence.” The prosecutor also argued that a camera in the kitchen clearly recorded audio of what was happening in the living room.

At that time, Cory Blakley was in the kitchen with “a clear and unobstructed view” of the abuse and beating of the child, Ow said.

“Dad saw and heard the entire incident and never intervened,” the prosecutor argued in court documents, “except to close a nearby window at mom’s request when the victim’s cries were too loud.” Ow also said the father walked past the couch to close the window.

The window, which was closed about 20 minutes after the spanking began, was about 12 to 15 feet away from a neighbor’s home, according to the prosecution.

The Blakleys had seven children — two biological children and five of whom were adopted. They all lived together in a home on New England Drive, just east of Sunrise Boulevard.

About 6 p.m. Feb. 2, officers and firefighters responded to a medical aid call at the family’s home. The officers found the boy unresponsive. Cyrus died three days later at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

In the April preliminary hearing, the prosecution argued the mother was “exacting revenge” on Cyrus after he told his classmates or school officials that his dogs had died, and he was forced to take the pets outside. Braden told the judge that the mother could be heard in the video repeatedly saying Child Protective Services was going to come and take the children away because Cyrus didn’t care about the family.

The defense attorney argued that there’s no evidence to suggest Cory Blakley was aware that his son was likely to die from his mother’s spanking. Zimmerman said the suffocation, while the mother sat on her child, may have well happened without the father knowing before he would have had a chance to intervene.

“It is unclear whether Mr. Blakley even heard any statement by (Cyrus that he) could not breathe,” Zimmerman argued. “Cory Blakley is not the actual killer. Further, the prosecution can present no evidence that he intended to kill the child or that he aided or abetted Kimberly in the commission of murder.”

The Blakleys remain in custody at the Placer County Jail. On June 21, about five months after the Roseville married couple was arrested , Cory Blakley filed a petition in court seeking a divorce from his wife. That case in family court is scheduled for a hearing Dec. 27.