On August 17, 2021, 4-year-old Benjamin Cervera, was found unresponsive by his stepmother. The little boy was rushed to the hospital, where he ultimately died. Six months after Benjamin’s death, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that he had died of starvation, putting the guilt on his father Brandon Cervera and Brandon’s ex-wife Miranda Casarez.
Earlier this year, Casarez was found guilty of injury to a child and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Brandon Cervera has been on trial for the last few weeks, and the details of his treatment of Benjamin, including video, are incredibly disturbing.
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The video is incredibly distressing.
More than 30 videos were shown in court during the trial, including cell phone videos and surveillance recordings, KSAT reported.
In one of the videos, Benjamin Cervera can be heard saying, “Dad, dad, I want some bread,” as he pleaded for food, water, or milk. Other videos showed the young boy in his room or in the kitchen in June 2021. He can be seen searching for food and sometimes eating fruit, cookies, Jello, and milk late at night in others.
His parents limited his access to food.
Additional videos show that Benjamin’s access to food became limited as locks were installed on both the cabinets and the refrigerator.
And a text exchange between Brandon Cervera and his ex-wife, show Brandon saying that because Benjamin ate bread, he “doesn’t need to eat dinner,” San Antonio Police Detective Lawrence Saiz testified.
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The police performed a wellness check before Benjamin's death.
During the trial, which KSAT reported on, San Antonio Police Department officer Omar Perez, testified about a wellness check he and other officers performed on Benjamin in early 2021.
Perez testified that the home Benjamin lived in with his father and stepmother looked clean, but that Benjamin looked different than the other children.
“He had visible injuries. He had bruises on his eyes and torso and he was skinny … able to see his bones,” Perez said. When he asked, he was told that Benjamin would poke his eyes and ears, had behavioral issues, and they were taking him to the doctor to be checked out.
The medical examiner found Benajmin died of starvation.
Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kimberley Molina, testified that based on her exam, Benjamin Cervera died of starvation. “He died of starvation, his death was ruled a homicide,” she told members of the jury.
The defense tried to discredit the autopsy report, saying Molina’s findings were misleading and that Benjamin was just small. However, a second medical expert, a pediatrician, Dr. James Lukefahr, testified that Molina’s findings were right.
“In my opinion, there was substantial evidence that Benji had been the victim of starvation leading up to his death,” Lukefahr said.
Brandon Cervera was found not guilty.
On Wednesday, October 2, a jury found Brandon Cervera not guilty of injury to a child, KSAT reported. Despite the prosecution making a case by providing examples of Brandon Cervera’s guilt, the defense found ways to contradict everything that was presented.
“This child was always small and that does not make someone starved,” defense attorney Jodi Soyars told the jury.
