Two attorneys who defended the Riverside County couple who made worldwide headlines after being accused of neglecting and abusing 12 of their 13 children are now heading up the defense of a different county couple who have received similar attention in a case in which the husband and wife are accused of killing their missing 7-month-old son.
The attorneys for Cabazon residents Jake Haro, 32, and Rebecca Haro, 41, will be opposed by one of the District Attorney’s Office’s top prosecutors.
The Haros are due at the Riverside County Hall of Justice in Riverside on Sept. 4 to enter pleas to charges of murder and filing a false police report. Emmanuel remained missing on Friday, Aug. 29, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Rebecca Haro told investigators that a man knocked her unconscious as she changed Emmanuel’s diaper and snatched the boy in the parking lot of a Big 5 on Aug. 14. The couple pleaded for the boy’s return during media interviews. Prosecutors say it was all a hoax and that they believe Emmanuel died from long-term abuse.
“The parents of a 7-month-old baby who was allegedly kidnapped as his mum changed his nappy in the US have been charged with the little boy’s murder,” the Sydney, Australia-based News.com.au website reported. on Thursday.
David and Louise Turpin of Perris received similar coverage of their case, which began with the filing of 88 charges each against them. Allison Lowe and David Macher from the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office represented David Turpin, and court-appointed attorney Jeff Moore from the Blumenthal & Moore law offices in Riverside represented Louise Turpin.
The Turpins each eventually pleaded guilty to 14 felony charges and were sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison in 2019.
Lowe and Paulette Garthwaite are heading Jake Haro’s defense team. Moore is representing Rebecca Haro. All three have at least 20 years of trial experience.
“Everybody involved is excellent,” Grant Donath, president of the Riverside County Criminal Defense Bar Association, said Friday. Donath said he has known all three for years. “Every person has handled very serious, high-profile cases, handled serious homicides.”
Lowe and Supervising Deputy Public Defender Brian Cosgrove supervise the Complex Litigation Unit, which handles death penalty homicide, gang and most sexual assault cases for the western region of the county.
“Allison and Paulette were selected due to their years of experience with these types of cases,” Cosgrove said.
Assistant District Attorney Brandon Smith has tried almost every type of case — more than 100 in all — in his 20-plus years at the DA’s Office, said John Hall, a spokesman for DA Mike Hestrin. Those include cases brought forth by the Sexual Assault & Trial Abuse, Gang and Homicide units.
Smith supervises the western region for Hestrin.
In the Turpin case, Facebook groups sprang up in which followers of the drama — including many people from outside the United States — freely offered opinions about the couple’s culpability, David’s haircut and the children.
But amateur sleuths, armed with cell phone cameras, TikTok accounts and a love of juicy rumors with little appetite to confirm them, have taken the social media interest in the Haros and little Emmanuel to an exponentially higher level. Other posts hurl venom at the Haros.
That, Donath said, will make jury selection problematic for the defense attorneys and the prosecution, should the case reach that stage.
“To some degree, it’s difficult finding jurors who don’t already have preconceived notions,” Donath said. “All sides have to account for that. … There is already a public consensus or fervor that have reached anger toward the defendants without knowing what the actual facts are.”