Jury selection starts for couple suspected of torturing son to death

BARSTOW • Attorneys took the first steps on Monday toward selecting a jury for the trial of a Barstow married couple accused of torturing the man’s 3-year-old son to death in 2006.

Thomas Othy Darthart, 26, and Moy Yamill Ellis, 31, are charged with murder, torture, child abuse resulting in resulting in death and cruelty to a child resulting in death. The are also facing the special circumstance that torture was inflicted causing a victim to die. Although Deputy District Attorney Sean Daughery said his office isn’t seeking the death penalty, the special circumstance carries a sentence of the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Darthart and Ellis’ lawyers, Troy Padgett and Robert Amador, participated in a hearing with Deputy District Attorney Sean Daugherty on Monday at the Barstow courthouse. Following the hearing a pool of possible jurors were given questionnaires to help the attorneys begin to pick a jury for the trial.

Daugherty said he expects jury selection to be finished around the end of the November.

Darthart’s son, three-year -old Thomas Timothy Fredric Darthart, was found dead on his birthday, Nov. 5, 2006, after police responded to a 911 call on the 1300 block of Nancy Street, according to a Barstow Police Department report from 2006. The report stated that the child was found on a bed in the house with severe external and internal injuries.

The police investigation concluded that the child’s injuries were purposely caused by one or both parents and that both parents knew about the injuries, but didn’t seek medical aid for him.

Officers arrested Darthart and Ellis on Nov. 5, 2006. Ellis’ daughter, 9 years old at the time of the incident, was taken into protective custody at the time.

Darthart and Ellis are both being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on $1.5 million bail.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com