LAS VEGAS (Washington Insider Magazine) – Prosecution told the court at a short schedule-setting court hearing on Friday that the death sentence will be sought in the trial of a Las Vegas man charged of kidnapping and murdering a 4-year-old boy and putting the dead body in a freezer while holding the boy’s mother hostage.
According to ABC NEWS, Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones has postponed Brandon Lee Toseland’s hearing until at least April 15 on 10 counts, including murder, child abuse, and kidnapping in the murder of the boy, as well as felony domestic assault for strangling the boy’s mother.
Toseland made his appearance via video link from the Clark County Detention Center, where he has been detained without bail since his arrest and detention on Feb. 22. Toseland, 35, will submit a not guilty plea to all counts, according to his defense counsel Augustus Claus, who spoke to the media outside the court on Friday.
After the kid’s 7-year-old sister delivered her teacher a pile of sticky notes from the mother claiming she was being kept hostage and that the girl’s brother was murdered at Toseland’s residence, police claimed they spotted Toseland in a car with the boy’s mother. Handcuffs were also discovered in the automobile, according to police.
The boy’s frozen corpse was discovered wrapped in plastic in a garage freezer, with clear signs of physical abuse, according to investigators.
On Thursday, a 4-count indictment was brought against Toseland, transferring the matter from municipal to state court for prosecution.
Claus said on Friday that he had not obtained an autopsy or medical examiner’s report on the boy, who died of internal wounds, according to the indictment.
Outside of court, prosecutors Christopher Hamner and Michelle Fleck declined to comment.
The coroner’s office in Clark County noted that decisions on the manner and cause of the child’s death were still pending.
Stephen Stubbs, the mother’s lawyer, claims that Toseland tortured her mentally, sexually, and physically, and also that her children were also abused and kept separate from her for the most part.
The Associated Press has chosen not to name the children or their mother in order to protect the identity of the victim of sexual assault. The mother, according to Stubbs, does not want her identity made public.
The boy’s father passed away of respiratory problems in January 2021. Last March, the mother and her two kids moved into Toseland’s home, according to Stubbs.
Marylee Ruiz, who claimed to have had 2 kids with Toseland before leaving their relationship roughly 5 years ago, was in court on Friday. Ruiz expressed worry about her children’s experiences while living at the residence, who are now 7 and 5.