Salem woman to continue serving manslaughter sentence for daughter's death

A Salem woman will continue to serve a decade-long sentence for manslaughter in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Aniya Zamora, under a ruling Friday.

The sentence was thrown into question last November when the Oregon Court of Appeals issued an opinion saying the Marion County Circuit Court didn't admit video evidence properly during the trial of Mercedes Alvarado.

Alvarado's boyfriend, David Gene Elliott, Jr., eventually admitted to murdering the child. Alvarado was convicted in 2015 of manslaughter because she neglected her daughter.

In April 2013, Aniya was discovered facedown in her home's bathtub. She was taken to the hospital suffering broken ribs, brain damage and a crushed pancreas. She died within days.

The State Medical Examiner's Office said the child died from cerebral anoxia from near drowning following blunt force trauma to her abdomen. Aniya's death was ruled a homicide.

Alvarado contended she had been in another room with noise-cancelling headphones and had left Aniya alone in the bathtub. Elliott admitted he kicked Aniya in the stomach, causing the blunt force trauma.

At issue Friday was whether an eight-minute video taken about six weeks before Aniya's death was unfairly prejudicial or whether it revealed what Alvarado knew or should have known about Elliott.

The video, recorded on a phone, shows Elliott acting domineering, encouraging Aniya and her brother to say racial slurs. The video showed Aniya and her sibling repeating Elliott's words.

In the video, Elliott also addresses the children by slurs. He tells them to use derogatory names toward their mother. He also tells them to wrestle one another.

When the video was initially introduced to the jury, Marion County Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver highlighted looks of concern and fear in the children's eyes as Elliott talked to them.

But defense attorney Suzanne Taylor appealed the admission of the video, saying the trial court had failed to properly justify its relevance.

On Friday, Taylor maintained the evidence was inadmissible and argued for a new trial.

Taylor said the video "evokes disgust" in anyone who watches it. "The video itself makes her look like a bad parent."

In sending the case back to the trial court, the appeals court said Marion County Circuit Judge Dale Penn, who sentenced Alvarado in 2015, failed to adequately explain why admitting the video was appropriate.

On Friday, Penn said the video offered a neutral observation of the normal interactions between Elliott, Alvarado and her children and that the video helped show Elliott was someone of concern.

In addition, he said that if there was criticism of anyone within the video, it was of Elliott. 

Penn ruled the video was not unfairly prejudicial, saying a new trial seemed "meaningless."

Alvarado has the right to appeal Friday's decision. She must filed a notice of appeal within 30 days.

After Penn's ruling, Taylor told the court the Oregon Department of Corrections had spoken with her about the fact that Alvarado was not receiving credit for her time served because of an issue with case numbers. Alvarado should have been getting credit for time-served starting in October of 2014.

Prosecutors and Taylor are working to resolve the issue.

Email jbach@statesmanjournal.com, call (503) 399-6714 or follow on Twitter @jonathanmbach.

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