San Angelo Man Charged With Recklessly Causing Bodily Injury to Child

SAN ANGELO, TX - In addition to the Jonathan Gould trial (click here and here), court proceedings started this week for Jacob Andrew Ferro, 36. Jury selection took most of the day, but by late afternoon, the the trial began and took an unexpected turn. 

Initially, Ferro was arrested and indicted for causing severe injury to a child, a first degree felony. This occurred after a child who resided in his home was treated for severe injuries on June 18, 2015. These injuries were said to have occurred after Ferro disciplined the child with a paddle, made out of a 1X4 piece of wood, for having bad grades. The child refused to accept the swats as punishment and began arguing with Ferro.

According to State Attorney Megan White, the victim and several witnesses testified that, while Ferro was administering the punishment, the victim was injured severely as a result of those swats. The practice of receiving rewards for good grades and “swats” for failing grades is a common practice in the Ferro household. The victim had failing grades during summer school and Ferro, who is the victim’s stepfather, decided to carry out the punishment. The mother of the child had left that morning to attend to a family emergency.

The unexpected turn came when White began questioning the victim regarding the incident. According to the victim, Ferro told him to bend over the ottoman in the living room and delivered the first swat, but had hit too high, which caused him pain. The child complained to Ferro; Ferro apologized and delivered another swat that landed on the child’s bottom.  

After the second swat, the child began arguing with Ferro, saying he wouldn’t stand for the punishment and threatened to run away. Ferro then delivered another swat, and according to the testimony, the victim’s arm and elbow were struck when he attempted to block the blow, which caused swelling and pain to his elbow. When Ferro didn’t allow the child to exit the home, he began threatening to kill Ferro and himself.

According to witness testimony, while Ferro attempted to calm the child down and bring him inside the home, the child latched on to the door frame, and, after an argument with Ferro, the boy fell on his back onto the floor. After this incident, the child wanted to contact his biological father, and Ferro allowed him to do that. The victim then called his father and explained what had happened. Upon hearing arguing in the background, the victim’s father contacted the Tom Green Sheriff’s Office and asked that someone check on his child.

As White led the child through the sequence of events, the child testified that he had lied about certain aspects regarding what really happened that afternoon. After the incident, the victim was treated for the bruises caused by the paddle, the injury to his elbow and a compressed fracture to his back that prompted his need to wear a neck brace for two months.

However, the victim’s original disclosure and statements given to State Attorney White on various occasions were consistent in that Ferro had grabbed the child by the neck and pushed him down, which caused the injuries to his neck. While on the stand, the victim stated he had lied about Ferro grabbing him by the neck. The boy said he wanted to go live with his biological father and had lied about the details of this incident. When asked why he had changed his version of the story, he claimed he didn’t want Ferro to miss out on seeing his newborn child, and that he had lied to make Ferro seem like a “bad person.” The child is currently living with his biological father.

In regards to the injury he sustained on his neck, the victim testified that the day before, at a family friend’s pool party, he had played a game of chicken with his siblings. He had carried his older brother on his shoulders and that caused him pain to his back after the game. His sibling is considerably bigger than the victim. According to the questions presented by White, the pool party had never been mentioned previously.

Raymonde Calecas, the boy's biological father also took the stand, and another child who lived in the same house as the victim, and who witnessed the events on Jan. 18, 2015, told the courts about what took place. The child witness said she could see Ferro having an altercation with the victim and defined what was happening as “spankings.” The witness confirmed the victim's testimony about the reason behind the spanking, and that the victim did not want to bend over the "ottoman," which is where Ferro met out punishment with the paddle.

The witness also described how Ferro was standing on the outside porch preventing the victim from leaving. She said Ferro had his hands on the victim’s upper chest, and this is what caused the victim to fall on the ground. She recalled the victim screaming along with other "hysterical" occupants.

Calecas, during his testimony, recalled receiving a phone call from the victim and “could tell something was wrong.” He identified “hollering” in the background, which he defined as loud voices, and said he couldn’t identify who was talking. The phone call was cut a few moments later, and he immediately called the Tom Green Sheriff’s Office to report that something was wrong.

Calecas was at the hospital with the victim after the event.

“When you’re a parent, you can tell something's wrong with your child,” Calecas told the state and jury.  

Calecas acknowledged he knew Ferro before the altercation, and when asked if he was quick to temper, Calecas said anyone can get flustered and Ferro is no faster at getting that way than others. He acknowledged that he knew children getting disciplined is a normal action between an adult and child, but not to the extent of what happened during this event.

After their testimony, the State said both witnesses are subject to recall and Judge Weatherby called recess until Jan. 18 at 9 a.m. 

Yesterday, as the trial continued on its second day, the jury saw the recorded interviews of two of the victim’s step siblings. Both children were at the house and witnessed the incident.

The male witness claimed that the victim had called him a few weeks after the incident and said that he felt bad for saying that his back was injured, and that he didn’t want to testify because it would upset his real dad if the father were to find out that he had not told the truth. The witness told him “do the right thing.” He and the victim have not been in contact since that call. He also claimed giving the victim Advil after he complained that his back hurt the morning after the pool party. 

The female witness said she remembered Ferro and the victim yelling at each other, and Ferro was “hitting him everywhere.” She also remembered the victim telling Ferro he was going to kill him and himself. In regards to what happened that caused the victim’s fall, she said she could not see what was happening by the door. She had also not spoken to him since visiting him in the hospital. Even though, in her initial disclosure, she had not mentioned the pool party, she did during the interview and said she had been referee during the game but did not remember the victim complaining of any neck or back pain before the incident. 

The next witness, Deputy Eric Samaniego, who responded to the welfare concern on June 18, 2015. He stated that initially Ferro seemed upset and frustrated when he showed up to the house and insisted on checking up on the victim. Ferro then told him he “didn’t think it was necessary.” The deputy had to ask Ferro to calm down and take a seat; Ferro complied. Dash camera audio and video recordings confirmed the deputy’s version of the event. The evidence presented to the jury did not include the victim's disclosure to the deputy; it was only the interactions between the deputy and Ferro. After talking to the victim and observing the visible injuries, Samaniego contacted TGCSO Detective Sgt. Martha Muro to continue the investigation.

The Defense questioned Samaniego for including certain details in the handwritten arrest report, but never mentioning them in the incident report filed hours later. The detail was that the victim told both the detective and deputy that Ferro had grabbed him by the neck and pushed him to the ground. The deputy explained that incident reports are kept brief and only contain the important information. The Defense then asked him why he had not included such an important detail in the incident report. 

Sergeant Muro was called next to testify. She told the jury that during the course of the investigation she had changed the charge from causing reckless injury to a child to causing severe injury to a child. After interviewing the victim in the ambulance and at the hospital, and taking photographs at both scenes, Muro considered it appropriate to up the charge to severe injury. She also listened to the recorded phone calls made by Ferro during the time he was in custody. She noted that in none of the conversations with his family did Ferro mention the pool party brought up by the victim and the witnesses. Several of those calls were played for the jury later on in the trial.

She then proceeded to demonstrate how the victim told her how he had crouched and tried to block the swat that resulted in the injured elbow. The defense questioned why she had not mentioned it in her report, and she stated she had just remembered. At the time she wrote, she couldn’t “recall if [the victim] had told her that he crouched.”

The State also played various audio files for the jury of Ferro speaking to the victim's mother while incarcerated. 

The first audio clip (June 25, 2016) revealed the victim’s mother telling Ferro the victim could move without assistance in the shower, but had difficulties moving when standing up from a table. She explained the victim had numbness in his back and neck, and told Ferro the injuries caused two broken vertebras in the victim's neck, and the lower two below those were also broken.

Ferro gave signs of disbelief and claimed the victim might have been hurt before the altercation. She explained it would be difficult to prove the injuries happened earlier than Jan. 18, 2015. This would directly affect Ferro’s hope to get probation, which she told him was “unlikely,” for there was reason to believe he injured a child.

“It’s [his] fault,” Ferro said. This statement implied that the victim brought this on himself. The victim’s mother explained to Ferro he should have been the adult in the situation and should not have let it get out of hand.

In the second recording (July 15, 2015), Ferro asked the victim’s mother to send the request to his lawyer in regards to a no prosecution affidavit. She said she would talk to the victim’s father about it. This kind of affidavit is approved by the district attorney.

The third recording (July  2, 2015) was shorter, and Ferro, in an aggressive tone, said, “[The victim's] 14 f***ing years old.” However, the victim’s mother said there was a change in the victim’s behavior since the incident.

Currently, the Ferro trial continues in its third day, and LIVE! will provide an update once available.

UPDATE Jan. 19 @ 7:40 P.M.

As the jury convened for the third and final day of Ferro’s trial, they heard testimony from several witness. Dr. Luis E. Duarte was called to the stand where he explained the victim’s injuries and how the actions done by Ferro directly led to the injuries the victim sustained. In regards to the severity of the injuries, Duarte considered the five vertebrate that had a compressed fracture would be considered a serious bodily injury.

He stated that those types of injuries could result in health problems later on in life. Even though the fracture healed, a person’s "body has memory,” and the victim could experience “neck issues” as he got older. The topic of severe bodily injury was important because it affected the type of felony Ferro would be facing. The defense attorney provided Duarte with hypothetical scenarios that could have caused the injury, to which the doctor responded that, even though the scenarios were possible, “it wasn’t likely” to be the cause. The hypotheticals referred to what the victim had testified regarding how he had been at a pool party and had a sore neck the night before and how he had fallen straight back onto the floor.  

After this witness, State attorney Megan White read out loud to the jury a portion of Ferro’s statement at the Pre-Trial a few days prior. In his statement, Ferro said, “I’m not innocent; something happened that day. I shouldn’t have battled him.”  

After this the state rested and the Defense called their witnesses.

The first witness was a relative of the victim, Dusty Dawson, who had allegedly talked to the victim regarding the lie he had told. White objected stating the witness was not present at the incident, and said it was hearsay; the witness was excused.

The second witness was the victim’s biological brother, Tyler Hesskew. Hesskew was in the home when the incident occurred, but he had not witnessed the altercation between the victim and Ferro. He said he recalled attending the pool party the other witnesses mentioned, but did not see what the children were playing. He also testified to wrestling with the victim the night before, but the fun ended when the two boys fell onto the porch and the victim landed on his shoulder. He testified he thought the incident had been an accident. 

“I know that he didn’t mean it,” the brother said.  

He also stated he never discussed the incident with Ferro because it was a “sore topic” for him.

The Defense called the victim to the stand one last time and he reiterated that he had lied about Ferro holding him by the neck and slamming him down, which is what had allegedly caused the compression fractures. The victim was excused and both the State and Defense counselors began preparing for summation.

Defense Attorney Jimmy Stewart reminded the jury that the State had been unable to show proof that Ferro had grabbed the victim’s neck and slammed him down. He also stated that the “complainant took the witness stand and admitted he lied.” He claimed that the State had failed to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt “ that Ferro had caused serious bodily injury to the victim, and thanked the jury for taking the case seriously and appreciated their effort.

White then walked the jury through the sequence of events and showcased the paddle and the pictures sustained by the victim. She reminded them that the victim had been consistent in every one of their meetings, and that his statement regarding Ferro grabbing him by the neck and slamming him down was repeated not only to her, but to law enforcement, paramedics and the doctor. She also illustrated the environment that Ferro had fostered in his home, which could be considered violent. She stated that the incident had not been an accident and that Ferro had caused serious injury to the victim, “at least knowingly if not intentional.” One of her major points was the size difference between the defendant and the victim, who only weighed approximately 90 pounds at that time.

The jury left the courtroom finally, and deliberated for a little over an hour. The jury, after 4 p.m., returned with a unanimous verdict of Injury to a Child by Recklessly Causing Bodily Injury, which removed first degree felony charge. This was the least serious charge presented against Ferro.

Court will reconvene tomorrow, Jan. 20, to resume punishment at 11:00 a.m. in Judge Weatherby’s courtroom. Ferro was taken into custody after the guilty charge was delivered.

Note: Reporters Sonia Ramirez and Cameron Niblock co-wrote this story.