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A.J.'s Story
- Newspaper Articles
The following links take you to various articles in AJ's story as it
appeared in the South Florida media.
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In Loving Memory Of Andrew James "A.J." Schwarz April 24,1983 - May 2,1993 "Beautiful Child who has found love from the angels...RIP..." |
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This
page contains articles from the Palm Beach Post and The Sun-Sentinel
from the year 1994. |
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If you are interested in reading the FULL DETAILS of this case aside from what is posted here, please purchase "No One Can Hurt Him Anymore" by Carol J.Rothgeb and Scott H. Cupp. Mr. Cupp thinks it's the book that nobody will read...please show your support and show him that you care about AJ, too by ordering his book by clicking on the cover image below.
Child
Abuse Charges Increase in Boy's Death (7/22/94)
Local (7/22/94)
In Court (8/6/94)
Stepmother's Abuse Trial Begins Today (8/22/94)
Court Writes Epitaph For Child Failed By All (8/22/94)
Potential Jurors Get Quizzed in Abuse Trial: Candidates
Reveal Knowledge of Case (8/23/94)
Schwarz's Attorney Wants Trial Moved (8/23/94)
Jury Chosen in Child Abuse Case: Mother Faces 7 Counts
As AJ Schwarz Trial Expected to Begin Today (8/24/94)
In Court (8/24/94)
AJ Case Testimony Emotional: Prosecution, Witnesses Relate
History of Abuse (8/25/94)
CHILD ABUSE CHARGES INCREASE
IN BOY'S DEATH
Sun-Sentinel
July 22, 1994
STEPHANIE SMITH
Including the two new counts of child abuse, a woman accused of killing
her stepson will face seven counts of child abuse, when she goes on
trial on Aug. 22, a judge decided on Thursday.
Jessica Schwarz, 39, of Lantana, will go on trial first on the child
abuse counts. In a separate trial, she will be tried on the second-degree
murder charge that she caused the drowning of A.J. Schwarz, 10.
The charges against Schwarz stem from allegations that she forced her
stepson to eat his meals on the floor next to a cat litter box, stay
home from school to perform chores and edge the family's lawn with household
scissors.
On May 2, 1993, the naked and bruised body of A.J. Schwarz was found
in the family's pool.
LOCAL
The Palm Beach Post
July 22, 1994
WEST PALM BEACH
Jessica Schwarz, charged with abusing and killing her 10-year-old stepson,
leaves court after a hearing Thursday. She will claim at her upcoming
trial on the abuse charges that "the criminal activity, if any,
falls upon the shoulders'' of state health care workers who didn't do
their jobs, Schwarz's attorney, Rendell Brown, said. Schwarz's trial
on the abuse charges is set to start Aug. 22. The Lantana woman will
be tried separately for second-degree murder in the May 2, 1993, death
of Andrew "A.J.'' Schwarz.
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IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
August 6, 1994
The 14-year-old stepsister of A.J. Schwarz will not have to testify
in front of her stepmother at the woman's trial later this month. Jessica
Schwarz is accused of killing A.J., her 10-year-old stepson, after months
of abuse. A therapist who counsels the girl testified Friday that she
has nightmares about Schwarz and not being able to save A.J. Circuit
Judge Walter Colbath will allow the girl to testify in his chambers
while the jury and Schwarz watch the testimony on a closed-circuit television
in the courtroom.
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STEPMOTHER'S ABUSE TRIAL BEGINS TODAY
Sun-Sentinel
August 22, 1994
STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer
A grand jury determined the death was not an accident, that the drowning
was the result of psychological and physical torture by Schwarz.
Defense may try to place blame for child's situation on HRS Jessica
Schwarz regretted ever agreeing to raise her husband's two children
from a previous marriage along with her own two daughters. The regret
turned to bitterness, and then to rage.
That rage was vented especially at one child, the only boy of the four.
On May 2, 1993, the naked and bruised body of Andrew "A.J."Schwarz,
10, was found floating in the family's shallow, backyard swimming pool.
A neighbor in the subdivision formerly known as Concept Homes in Lantana,
told attorneys in the case that she predicted a horrible end to A.J.'s
life to a Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services caseworker
before the boy's death.
"I said that child needs to be taken out of that home because he's
going to wind up either murdered, committing suicide or in a tower 10
years from now shooting people because of the abuse that's been taking
its toll," Beth Ann Walton said.
Palm Beach County's chief medical examiner said A.J. could have committed
suicide, been held under water or drowned accidentally. A grand jury
determined the death was not an accident, that the drowning was the
result of unrelenting psychological and physical torture by Schwarz.
She was often alone with the child because of A.J.'s father's job as
a long-haul truck driver.
Schwarz, 39, a former truck driverand daycare worker, was indicted on
charges of second-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. Today, ,
Schwarz goes on trial on the child abuse charges. She will be tried
separately on the second-degree murder charge.
The seven child abuse counts address the scars and bruises on A.J.'s
psyche as much as those on his body.
A.J.'s father, David "Bear" Schwarz, was often away from home
and did not seem to want to know what happened in his absence, Walton
said.
"On one occasion I spoke to David on the phone and I said, `David,
you've got to get a different job. She can't handle being home with
these kids alone, something is going to happen,'" Walton said.
"And he said, `Thanks for being a friend. Thanks for being there
when we need you.' And that was the end of that. He didn't want to hear
anything else."
Attorneys on both sides declined to comment on the case before trial.
Earlier hearings indicate Schwarz's lawyer, Rendell Brown, intends to
hold the HRS responsible. HRS placed A.J. in the household after taking
him way from his natural mother.
According to court records:
-- A.J. was forced to eat his food from a bowl on the floor next to
the cat litter box.
-- He was kept out of school to do household chores.
-- He was forced to wear a T-shirt that read, "I'm a worthless
piece of sh--, don't talk to me."
-- He was ordered to edge the family's lawn with household scissors.
-- He was thrown out of the house, naked.
-- When he wet his bed, Schwarz is accused of rubbing A.J.'s nose in
the urine and then making him lie back down on the soiled bedsheets.
Several neighbors reported the abuse and HRS workers were regulars at
the Schwarz house.
Scarlet Smith, a neighbor, told attorneys that Schwarz constantly complained
about her stepson.
"She would look at me and say, `I don't like him. I never will.'
Something about, `I never thought I could hate a child so much until
he came along.' She'd say she didn't love him at all and she never would,"
Smith said.
Experts said they do not know whether child abuse is more prevalent
with stepchildren than natural children, but agree blended families
in general present a new set of problems.
"A step-parent comes in and they don't have the initial bonding
with the children, the affection, the gentleness," counselor Joyce
Guidish with the Center for Family Services in Boca Raton said.
Step-parents are also confused about their role and authority and may
try to exert too much power to show who is in control, said Dr. Adam
White, a clinical psychologist with the Parent-Child Center in West
Palm Beach.
Usually, the victim of abuse is the most powerless in the family and
a stepchild could easily fit that role, experts say.
"Oftentimes, there's going to be one child who is the scapegoat
kid," Guidish said. "It's a lot easier to blame the one child
than for each person to look at themselves."
In contrast to allegations on the abuse of A.J., there were few accusations
that Schwarz abused her own daughters, ages 5 and 12, except after her
stepson's death. Schwarz is also charged with witness tampering and
felony child abuse for grabbing her youngest daughter and telling her
to be careful what she told police.
"Do you want Mommy to go to jail?"Schwarz was recorded saying
on videotape in a police interrogation room.
A.J. had not been any safer in his natural mother's care. A.J. and his
teen-age sister were taken away from their mother after her husband
at the time was convicted of sexually molesting A.J.'s sister and beating
his mother. The man had also beaten A.J., records showed.
A.J.'s sister was allowed to go back to her mother, Ilene Schwarz, after
she accused her stepmother of physical abuse and threatened to commit
suicide if she was forced to live with her any longer. Ilene Schwarz
was also trying to get custody of her son at the time of his death.
Walton said A.J. was not allowed by his stepmother to express any desire
to see his sister and mother. Once, when a judge asked him privately
who he would like to live with, A.J. became so distraught that he vomited
in response.
While A.J. sometimes complained that he had so many chores while his
stepsister, Lauren, 12, and half-sister Jackie, 5, had none, he did
not blame his sisters for his fate, neighbors said.
His sisters did not share their stepmother’s feelings for A.J.
After the drowning, the Schwarz house was the scene of frantic activity,
with investigators and neighbors crowding the property. In the chaos,
Walton caught sight of Lauren wandering by herself.
"And, finally I walked over to her and she started crying and I
just held on to her for a while," Walton said. "At first,
she said she couldn't find her cat. 'I can't find my cat.' And then
she said, "They took him out the pool and he was stiff,' and she
just started crying."
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COURT WRITES EPITAPH FOR CHILD FAILED BY ALL
The Palm Beach Post
August 22, 1994
VAL ELLICOTT
The handwritten entries in Dr. Richard Zimmern's journal read like warning
signs posted along the last miles of Andrew Schwarz's wrecked life.
December 3, 1992: ``Andrew is a good child in school, anxious to please,
eager to help. He is starving for affection and approval.''
February 2, 1993: ``No love or affection at home. Just endless punishment.''
March 8, 1993: ``When Andrew's eyes go dead, he is withdrawing from
the world because he finds it all just too painful.''
And two months later, the day Andrew, called ``A.J.,'' was found dead
in his family's swimming pool:
``Andrew is dead . . . No one can hurt him anymore.''
Prosecutors hope Zimmern's comments on the last, hellish months of A.J.'s
11th year will help convince jurors that A.J.'s stepmother, Jessica
Schwarz, is guilty of seven counts of child abuse.
The abuse trial begins today in front of Circuit Judge Walter Colbath
and is expected to last two weeks, prosecutor Scott Cupp said. Schwarz,
39, of Lake Worth, faces a separate trial, not yet scheduled, on second-degree
murder in her stepson's death.
Autopsy reports showed A.J. suffered head injuries so severe that if
he hadn't drowned he would have died from the blows. His stepmother
has denied beating him.
Her attorney, Rendell Brown, declined comment on the case. He hinted
recently in court that Schwarz may blame staffers with Florida's Department
of Health and Rehabilitative Services for A.J.'s death.
But those familiar with Schwarz's treatment of her stepson have little
trouble assigning the blame to her.
Schwarz, a former truck driver, made a uniformly awful impression on
Zimmern - he called her ``combative, rude and simplistic'' - her neighbors
and A.J.'s third-grade teacher, Mary Idrissi, who emerges in court records
as A.J.'s one reliable source of affection and attention.
A.J. `BELITTLED'
Their statements portray Schwarz as a foul-mouthed, short-tempered woman
who often behaved less maturely than the 10-year-old she was trying,
with dismal results, to raise.
Idrissi recalled one particularly painful exchange with Jessica Schwarz
while A.J. was present.
``She belittled him standing in front of me,'' Idrissi recalled in a
Jan. 7 statement. ``She said that if I was a good teacher I would be
wise to him, that he was a liar and dishonest, that she didn't trust
him, that he was sneaky. He was very humiliated, and I felt very, very
sorry for him.''
But Schwarz's techniques for humiliating her stepson extended well beyond
verbal disparagement, according to court records.
One of the seven abuse counts against her claims she forced A.J. to
wear a T-shirt on which she had written an obscene phrase describing
him as ``worthless.'' Other counts allege she made him eat from a bowl
placed next to the cat's litter box, run naked down the street and edge
the family's yard in Lake Worth with ordinary house scissors.
Serena Perryman, 14, one of the Schwarzes' neighbors on Trip-hammer
Road, recalled seeing A.J. covered with bruises - ``too many to count''
- and echoed the words of so many adults who had come to know A.J.:
``He just seemed very hungry for love and caring.''
SHOUTING OBSCENITIES
There were other reports that A.J.'s stepmother taped his mouth shut
and routinely screamed obscenities at him. When HRS workers visited
the house once because A.J. had been missing school, Schwarz exploded.
``She was screaming at him and she was shaking him so hard I thought
his head was going to fall off,'' Beth Ann Walton, who lived near Schwarz's
house, said in a Feb. 24 statement.
Walton also said Schwarz admitted selling crack cocaine from the house,
but that testimony will not be admissible at Schwarz's trials.
A.J. began living with his natural father, David ``Bear'' Schwarz, and
Jessica, his second wife, in 1990, after state health officials, worried
the boy was being abused by his natural mother's new husband, removed
him from that home.
A.J.'s new life with his father, stepmother, half-sister and stepsister
at first seemed an improvement over Ilene Schwarz's fractured home,
but Jessica Schwarz's temper soured the positive beginning, according
to HRS caseworkers and others.
``Jessica and Andrew are a totally mismatched pair,'' Zimmern, a retired
pediatrician, wrote in his guardianship journal on Jan. 19 last year.
``Her brazen, combative attitude is now well-known in the neighborhood
and in school. Everybody on Triphammer Rd. must hate her guts! Jessica
has no concept of flexibility in her approach to Andrew. She has no
concept of his emotional needs.''
A week later, A.J. had two black eyes and a broken nose.
``Andrew seems depressed and subdued,'' Zimmern wrote. ``He persistently
repeats the fall against the bike handle story. I just don't see how
such a fall could generate enough force to break his nose.''
Almost every aspect of A.J.'s home life seemed to reflect his stepmother's
lack of feeling for him, even the spartan appearance of his room.
FATHER TIMID, HELPLESS
``It was just a very barren room,'' Sheriff's Deputy Barbara Hopper
said in a statement on Jan. 7. ``It's just a depressing room.''
A.J.'s father, a truck driver whom A.J. adored but who was seldom around,
was timid and helpless in the face of his wife's chronically hostile
personality - a neighbor said Jessica Schwarz once punched her husband
in the face during an argument - and seemed disinclined to protect his
son from her violence, court documents say.
Zimmern and A.J.'s teacher, Idrissi, tried to talk Jessica Schwarz into
a more compassionate parenting style, but they were continually frustrated
by her belligerence.
``After a period of time I stopped writing her because her comments
were sarcastic,'' Idrissi said in her Jan. 7 statement. ``They were
answers with words like, `Oh, well.' That was her phrase to me - `Oh,
well, that's your problem, not mine.' ''
Jessica Schwarz reacted the same way to A.J.'s death - it was someone
else's fault.
``Jessica did not sound depressed or sad, just very angry,'' Zimmern
wrote the same day A.J.'s bruised body was found floating in the pool.
``She thundered, raging at the world as personified by the police and
HRS. She had no soft spot in her heart for Andrew, no compassion.''
`We all failed him'
Zimmern was devastated by the tragedy and blamed himself for not acting
in time to remove A.J. from his stepmother's care.
``In the end, we all failed him,'' he wrote. ``I should have saved him.
Now I must live with my failure.''
HRS staffers also accepted some blame for A.J.'s death. But they strongly
protested when a grand jury indicted an agency staffer, Barbara Black,
for allegedly threatening Eileen Callahan unless Callahan, one of Schwarz's
neighbors, continued calling HRS to say A.J. was being abused.
Schwarz was jailed April 13 after Colbath ruled she had violated her
bond by shouting obscenities and sarcastic remarks at two other neighbors,
Ann Steinhauer and Ida Falk.
Schwarz had become such an object of fear for their families, Steinhauer
and Falk told Colbath, that that their daughters were having trouble
sleeping, and one had even taken refuge inside a bathroom with a wooden
bat.
Others familiar with Schwarz say they wish some refuge had been available
to the little boy who would sometimes sit on a curb and stare into space,
as if imagining a better life.
“I said, that child needs to be taken out of that home because
he's going to wind up either murdered, committing suicide or in a tower
10 years from now shooting people because of the abuse that's taken
its toll,'' Walton said in February.
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POTENTIAL JURORS GET QUIZZED IN ABUSE TRIAL
CANDIDATES REVEAL KNOWLEDGE OF CASE
Sun-Sentinel
August 23, 1994
MIKE FOLKS
Staff Writer
What Betty Spoelstra read in the newspaper about allegations of abuse
by the stepmother of 10-year-old Andrew "A.J."Schwarz was
shocking, she told a judge on Monday.
"I just read there was abuse, and the child was forced to walk
around without any clothes, and was forced to trim a large area of grass
with scissors," Spoelstra said on Monday, the first day of jury
selection in the abuse trial of Jessica Schwarz, 39.
"It almost makes me want to cry to think that anyone would want
to treat a child like that," said Spoelstra, a mother.
Potential juror Jeffrey Mitchell, who described himself as a "current
affairs fanatic," said he knew of the case through television and
newspaper reports. Mitchell said he felt as Spoelstra did.
"I don't think pretrial publicity would affect me as much as the
fact that I have a 10-year-old son and we just celebrated his birthday,"
Mitchell said.
Spoelstra and Mitchell were among potential jurors excused on Monday
from serving on the jury of six who will decide whether Schwarz is guilty
of seven counts of child abuse.
On Monday, a 36-member jury pool filled out questionnaires. Of the 36,
24 said they had been exposed to pretrial publicity about the abuse
allegations and A.J.'s death in May 1993.
Of those 24, 11 were interviewed on Monday, leaving 13 to be interviewed
today by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Although Schwarz is charged with second-degree murder in connection
with A.J's death, she will be tried on that charge at a later date.
A.J.'s nude body was discovered by his father in an above-ground pool
in the back yard of the family's home west of Lantana. At the time of
his death, the third-grader at Indian Pines Elementary School had more
than 24 cuts, bruises and scrapes on his body.
At the start of Monday's hearing, defense attorneys asked to have the
case moved to another county, citing news coverage of the case.
But Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Walter N. Colbath Jr. temporarily
denied the request, saying he would reconsider the motion if an unbiased
jury of six and one alternate could not be found.
As prosecutors and defense attorneys questioned the panel members who
had said they had been exposed to pretrial publicity, potential jurors
revealed their opinions of the case.
One man, a father of five, said what he had heard and read about the
case would make it difficult for him to be objective.
"That's my problem with this case," he told the judge. "I
just can't picture people doing these kinds of things to a child."
One woman said she already had made up her mind. "I think she's
guilty," she said, referring to Schwarz.
But one woman who said she knew of the case through media coverage was
not excused, despite saying, "I do feel for the child."The
woman said she could put aside what she's learned through the media
and judge the case on the evidence alone. "I'd have to hear all
the facts first," she said.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
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SCHWARZ'S ATTORNEY WANTS TRIAL MOVED
The Palm Beach Post
August 23, 1994
TIM O'MEILIA
Too much publicity about the death of 10-year-old Andrew ``A.J.'' Schwarz
should force moving the child abuse trial of his mother to another county,
her attorney argued Monday.
Twenty-four of the 36 potential jurors in the trial of Jessica Schwarz
had read newspaper stories and heard television accounts of how the
youngster drowned in the family swimming pool in May 1993 and how he
was treated by his stepmother.
Publicity, including a story in Monday's Palm Beach Post, has so poisoned
readers against Schwarz to the point ``of abject sympathy (for the boy)
and teary-eyed crying,'' attorney Rendell Brown said.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Walter Colbath said he would rule on
Brown's motion for a change of venue after interviewing potential jurors.
Seven people were dismissed Monday as lawyers tried to seat a six-member
jury. Several said the nature of child abuse cases would make it impossible
for them to be fair.
Schwarz is charged with seven counts of child abuse, including forcing
her stepson to: wear a T-shirt describing him as worthless, eat from
a bowl placed next to a cat's litter box, run naked down the street
and edge the lawn with house scissors.
``It really made a big impression on me. To think anyone would treat
a child like that. It's inexcusable,'' said one juror who was dismissed.
``There's too many things for some of them not to be true,'' said another
man with five children. He also was dismissed from the jury pool. ``I
just can't picture people doing these things.''
Schwarz of Lantana faces a separate trial on a second-degree murder
charge at a later date.
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JURY CHOSEN IN CHILD ABUSE CASE
MOTHER FACES 7 COUNTS AS A.J. SCHWARZ TRIAL EXPECTED TO BEGIN TODAY
Sun-Sentinel
August 24, 1994
MIKE FOLKS
Staff Writer
A jury of six was seated on Wednesday in the child abuse trial of Jessica
Schwarz, despite defense fears that an impartial jury could not be selected
because of media coverage of the case.
Schwarz, 39, is on trial for seven counts of child abuse.
She has also been charged with second-degree murder in connection with
the 1993 death of her 10-year-old stepson, A.J., and will be tried on
that charge later.
Prosecutors say the abuse charges against Schwarz range from forcing
A.J. from the house nude and making him trim the lawn with scissors,
to rubbing his nose in bedsheets he had soiled and making him eat from
a plate on the floor next to a cat's litter box.
In May 1993, A.J.'s nude body was found by his father in an above-ground
pool in the back yard of the family's home, west of Lantana. The Indian
Pines Elementary School third-grader had more than 24 cuts, scrapes
and bruises at the time of his death, which was ruled a drowning.
When jury selection began on Monday, defense attorney Rendell Brown
sought to have the case moved to another county, citing pretrial publicity.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Walter N. Colbath Jr. denied the request.
Many jurors questioned on Monday and Tuesday said they could not be
objective because of news reports they had seen or heard about the case.
On Tuesday, however, six jurors out of a pool of 36 were seated to serve.
Two alternates are expected to be selected today, and the trial, which
is expected to last two weeks, should begin.
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IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
August 24, 1994
WEST PALM BEACH
Attorneys in the child abuse trial of Jessica Schwarz picked a jury
of three men and three women Tuesday and opening statements in the two-week
trial are expected to take place today, following the selection of two
alternate jurors. Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp said he expects
to call about 20 witnesses. Defense attorney Rendell Brown said he expects
to call at least 10 witnesses. Schwarz, 39, is charged with abusing
her stepson, Andrew ``A.J.'' Schwarz. She is also charged with second-degree
murder in his death in May 1993, but she faces a separate trial on that
charge.
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A.J. CASE TESTIMONY EMOTIONAL
PROSECUTION, WITNESSES RELATE HISTORY OF ABUSE
Sun-Sentinel
August 25, 1994
MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer
By the time Andrew "A.J."Schwarz's third-grade teacher was
through testifying on Wednesday, she was in tears.
Across the courtroom, the defendant, Jessica Schwarz, appeared unfazed.
She sat stone-faced, jotting down notes to her attorney on a legal pad.
The jury never got to hear why the teacher, Mary Idrissi, gave the 10-year-old
boy $2 to spend at a holiday gift shop at his school. A judge ruled
that the jury could not hear that A.J. told the teacher that Schwarz
threatened to burn any Christmas presents that he bought her. But Idrissi
was allowed to explain what A.J. did with the money. She broke down
in tears as she recalled the incident.
"I told him he could go down and purchase anything he wanted for
himself. All that he brought back was all for [me)."Idrissi said,
her voice cracking. "He bought nothing for himself."
The emotional testimony came in the opening day of the trial for Schwarz,
39, who is charged with seven counts of child abuse against her stepson.
Schwarz also stands charged with second-degree murder in connection
with A.J.'s May 1993 drowning, but she will be tried on that charge
later.
On Wednesday, out of the presence of the jury, Idrissi testified that
she gave A.J. the money after he told her why he could not go to the
holiday gift shop: "He said, `Because my mother told me if I bought
anything for her, she would burn it,'" Idrissi said.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Walter N. Colbath Jr. ruled the jury
could not hear that portion of Idrissi's testimony because she was quoting
A.J. telling her what his stepmother said. Hearsay rules prevent such
testimony, Colbath concluded.
Idrissi's testimony followed opening statements by the defense and prosecution.
Defense attorney Rendell Brown said his client did not abuse A.J. He
characterized Schwarz as a lover of children and animals but a strict
disciplinarian.
The defense attorney said his client unknowingly was dealing with A.J.
- a "crack baby" who had brain damage and who took the drug
Imipramine to control his mood swings.
Brown faulted the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services
for not advising Jessica Schwarz and A.J.'s father, David Schwarz, of
these problems when case workers removed the boy and his half sister
from their mother's Fort Lauderdale home and sent them to live at the
Schwarzes' Lantana-area home in 1990.
"Jessica is a mother of tough love and tender mercy," Brown
said.
Stories of abuse by Jessica Schwarz against her stepson have been concocted
by neighbors whom his client had fought with or others who "are
out to get Jessica," he said.
But prosecutor Scott Cupp painted a different picture of Jessica Schwarz,
saying the evidence would show that she put A.J. through a "litany
of abuse" from October 1990 until A.J.'s nude body, bearing more
than two dozen bruises, scrapes and cuts, was pulled from the Schwarzes'
backyard pool in May 1993.
Cupp said Jessica Schwarz constantly degraded and cursed her stepson.
She forced him to clean house instead of play, trim the lawn with scissors,
wear a shirt that said, "Don't talk to me, I'm a worthless piece
of s--t," and eat from a plate placed on the floor next to a cat
litter box, he said. After the opening statements, the jury listened
intently as Idrissi recounted her first meeting with A.J. and his stepmother
at an August 1992 school open house.
Idrissi said she was shocked when Jessica Schwarz told her that A.J.
was "a lot of trouble," and a a liar who played "head
games" with people. Jessica Schwarz also refused to sign a form
that would make her responsible for school books assigned to A.J., telling
Idrissi that A.J. would lose or destroy the books and she would not
pay for them.
"The whole time that was going on, A.J. was standing beside her.
His little eyes never left the floor. He was humiliated," Idrissi
said. Idrissi described A.J. as a thin, good-humored boy who was starved
for affection. Sometimes, A.J.'s body was bruised.
Although he was talkative in class and had trouble concentrating, he
was a good student who did well in her class with special attention
from her, she said.
A.J. also missed 44 out of 140 days of school, Idrissi said.
When Idrissi said she showed up to meet with Jessica and David Schwarz
and HRS officials about A.J., Jessica Schwarz told her husband "the
maggot who's causing all our troubles," referring to Idrissi.
After Idrissi finished testifying, the jury of three women and three
men heard emotional testimony of abuse by Jessica Schwarz from Teresa
Walton, an 11-year-old neighbor. Teresa said she rarely played with
A.J. "He was always cleaning," she explained. Once, she said,
she saw Jessica Schwarz force her stepson to eat a cockroach.
"Jessica came out and said she found a cockroach on a plate and
[A.J.) had to eat it," Teresa said.
When Teresa went inside the house to use the bathroom, she saw A.J.
eating the cockroach. "He was chewing and he had the other half
in his hand. He was crying," she testified. The abuse did not stop
there, Teresa told the jury. "[A.J.) had to eat his dinner in a
certain amount of time. Jessica would set the timer on the stove, and
he'd have to eat it in five or 10 minutes. If he didn't finish, he had
to put it in the dog's bowl," Teresa said.
Teresa testified she once saw A.J. with masking tape over his mouth.
Written on the tape were the words "big mouth."
A.J's stepmother would also force him to "write things" when
he was bad, such as "I'm a liar" and "I should have never
been born," Teresa said.
"Jessica would hang them on his [bedroom) wall," Teresa told
the jury. The trial continues today and is expected to last two weeks.
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