AURORA | A man charged with murder after police say he threw his girlfriend’s toddler son across a room last year is scheduled to go on trial Wednesday morning.
Opening statements in the trial of Theodore “Ted” Madrid, are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. at the Arapahoe County Justice Center, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said.
Madrid was charged last year with first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse resulting in death in connection with the Jan. 5, 2011 slaying of Caden Rodgers.
Madrid, who has been jailed since his arrest following the tot’s death, is currently being held on $500,000 bond in the Arapahoe County Jail.
The case has moved slowly since Madrid’s arrest, in part because of a previous change in his defense team.
According to court documents, Madrid was baby-sitting Caden in the early morning hours of Jan. 5 when he got frustrated with the boy and threw him over his shoulder. Madrid told police he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana that night.
According to testimony at a preliminary hearing last year, in the hours after his arrest on child abuse charges, Madrid told police he took responsibility for Caden’s injuries. But, Madrid told police, he didn’t mean to hurt Caden and didn’t think the incident was too serious — even though Caden was unconscious and Madrid couldn’t stop the blood gushing from the back of the boy’s head.
“I’m not worried about it,” Madrid told police, according to testimony. “It’s not like I hit him with a belt or an extension chord.”
Prosecutors said the child abuse charges stem from Caden’s injuries and the murder charge is the result of Madrid failing to call 911 to help the boy when he was clearly injured.
Madrid’s previous defense team argued that there was no evidence that the delay in getting help for Caden played a role in the boy’s death.
The trial is scheduled to continue through next week.
That sweet lil boy was family and I hope the judge gives YOU, Theodore Madrid, the death penalty. Child Abuse is child abuse plain and simple…….. and if the judge can’t give you death, I hope your fellow inmates find out what you did and throws you against a wall……
Caden was a sweet and innocent little boy that didn’t deserve what happened to him. There is no defense for Theodore Madrid, may he waste away in jail for the rest of his miserable life.