By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com
Two Sacramento Superior Court juries today convicted Eduardo Zamora and Amber Ingram of murder in last year's child-abuse death of her 5-year-old son, Braeden James Gardner.
Zamora's jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and separate counts of child abuse and torture. The 32-year-old defendant is facing a prison term of 50 years to life in prison. Judge Michael P. Kenny scheduled Zamora's scheduling for Jan. 14.
Ingram's panel convicted her of second-degree murder and a separate count of child endangerment by leaving her son in Zamora's care. Ingram, 26, faces a 15-to-life term.
Sheriff's investigators, prosecutors, emergency room doctors and the deputy coroner who conducted the autopsy on Braeden's body that had been bruised from his forehead to his feet said it was one of the worst cases of child abuse they had ever seen.
Paramedics were called to the couple's Rosemont home June 17, 2009, and found the boy's lifeless body.
"Everyday, we think about Braeden - every day," said Marletta Stein, 27, a member of the Ingram jury. "This has consumed our lives. It'd definitely changed my way of thinking...The thought of somebody doing that to him makes me so sick inside."
Even though Stein sat on the Ingram jury, she said that it was difficult sitting in the same room with the man who was accused of inflicting the fatal injuries on the boy.
"Every day we sat in that courtroom and had to look at it, and he was sick - it was sick," she said.
Prosecutors said in the case that Ingram knew of the abuse that Zamora was inflicting on her son but that she failed to act to prevent the danger that took his life.
"I think for anybody in that situation, always put your kids first," Stein said. "Don't ever put them last, and that's what she did."
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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