Carthage child killer appeals case to Missouri Supreme Court

Eddie Salazar Sr., the man who killed his infant child and threw him in Spring River is appealing his conviction to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The request for a hearing was filed today.

The Southern District Court of Appeals rejected Salazar's appeal in October.

Salazar’s crime was described in the appellate court’s opinion:

On the evening of February 4, 2010, Child was in Defendant’s care. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., an officer made contact with Defendant at a Carthage residence in response to a 9-1-1 call in which Defendant stated that two men had entered his home and had taken Child. Defendant subsequently gave differing accounts of the event — including that he had found Child dead in his crib — but he eventually told law enforcement that he had shaken Child because he was frustrated that Child would not stop crying, and Child slipped from his hands, striking his head on the tile floor. Defendant admitted throwing Child’s body into a river, and Child’s body was eventually recovered from the river. Recorded statements from Defendant were admitted into evidence as State’s Exhibits 3, 6, 8A, and 9. The jury also heard a recording of Defendant’s 9-1-1 call, admitted as State’s Exhibit 2.3

The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Child testified that the cause of death was “blunt head trauma” and that Child had three fractures to his skull, accompanied by “swelling of the brain and bleeding inside of the head as well.”

Salazar’s attorney asked for a new trial, claiming that the public was wrongly kept out of the courtroom during jury selection because so many people were brought in due to the nature of the trial.The opinion suggested that there was no evidence that anyone wanted to attend and was kept from doing so because of the judge’s decision.

The seating of a juror who had indicated she was not sure she could render an impartial decision was also rejected as a reason for the mistrial since Salazar’s attorney could have exercised one of his peremptory challenges to have that juror removed. During further questioning, the juror, who was a teacher who had students who had been victims of child abuse, said she thought she could put that aside and make her decision based on the evidence.