After nearly eight hours of deliberation a 12-person jury on Monday afternoon found both parents of 15-month-old child, Cairo Astacio, guilty of causing his death by fentanyl ingestion.
Astacio's parents, Joenny Manuel Astacio Ottenwalder, 36, and Kira Lee Davison, 29, who previously used the last name Villalba, were both found guilty of child abuse by knowingly or recklessly causing the death of Astacio, who died in November 2021.
The guilty verdict from the jury — consisting of five men and seven women — comes after a week-long trial which began Monday, March 6. This was the second attempt at hosting a trial for the Colorado Springs couple after the first was declared a mistrial in February.
Josh Tolini, a defense attorney representing Ottenwalder, said that a mistrial was declared in the case after a police officer who was testifying accidentally said something during their testimony that was not supposed to be released to the jury.
Tolini declined to comment on the specifics of what was said by the police officer.
Ottenwalder and Villalba were also found guilty of possession of both fentanyl and cocaine. The jury found both not guilty of possession of heroin.
In the opening statements of the first trial, Tolini claimed that the night Astacio died, the child was being looked after by Davison, who was allegedly smoking fentanyl in bed before falling asleep.
Attorneys representing Davison during their opening statements argued that while Davison was asleep with their son, Ottenwalder was awake doing drugs with a friend and playing video games, neglecting to check in on Astacio during that time.
Defense attorneys also spent time during opening statements to insinuate the charges against their client were too drastic, and that while both accept some blame for Astacio’s death, they didn’t knowingly or recklessly cause the death of their son.
Prosecutor Brien Cecil’s opening statement claimed that the evidence presented over the jury trial would show that both parents were responsible for the death of Astacio, not just one, and that the high levels of fentanyl found in both of the couple’s systems at the time of Astacio’s death makes them equally liable.
“Both Joenny and Kira allowed their son to die,” Cecil said near the end of his opening statements in February. “The people ask that at the end of the case you the jury find both of them guilty.”
The couple will return to court on May 10 for a sentencing hearing.
The sentencing range for being found guilty of child abuse knowingly or recklessly causing death — a class-2 felony — is eight to 24 years in prison per Colorado law.
Ottenwalder and Davison also face a separate case, in which both are accused of providing fentanyl to a 13-year-old girl who overdosed twice.
The jury trial for the overdose case was scheduled to begin last month, but because of concerns over the two trials overlapping — as well as attorneys representing Ottenwalder saying they weren’t ready — the trial was rescheduled for July 17.
Ottenwalder and Davison face two counts of child abuse causing serious bodily injury, controlled substance distribution to a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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