DA drops child abuse charges against Genevieve Barea

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David Young, (Bio) dyoung@greeleytribune.com
April 30, 2008

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The Weld District Attorney on Tuesday dropped charges against the final suspect in the death of a 7-year-old girl who died at her aunt's home last year.

Genevieve Barea, 45, the aunt of LoReyna Barea, is now free from a child abuse resulting in death charge levied against her after the Weld County Coroner determined the girl died on March 9, 2007, of acute dehydration and blunt force trauma.

The district attorney's office filed for the motion to dismiss the case based on a review of the evidence and considering a jury acquitted Dan Partch, 47, Genevieve's husband, of the same charge in March.

"The District Attorney's Office has concluded that there is not a reasonable likelihood of conviction at trial and therefore we have an ethical obligation to dismiss the charge in this matter," according to the press release from the district attorney's office.

Weld District Attorney Ken Buck declined to comment about case. The release noted that there is still a possibility of Barea facing charges again.

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LoReyna's other aunt, Linda Not Help Him of South Dakota, said she was outraged when she was told the charge against Barea would be dropped.

Not Help Him said she is unsatisfied with how the district attorney's office handled the case and is convinced that someone is pulling strings to get Partch and Barea off.

"I think it is a coverup. ... There was all kinds of evidence against him (Partch)," said Not Help Him, who was unable to sit in on the trial due to a sequestration order. "There is no sickness in the world that can cause that much bruising on a baby."

LoReyna had more than 40 bruises at the time of her death and weighed 35 pounds, according to coroner reports.

In Partch's eight-day trial, the prosecution made the case that Partch stood by and did nothing while LoReyna vomited numerous times the night she died.

Defense attorneys argued that the girl sustained some of her injuries in a bike accident and that she would often throw herself down stairs or against walls. The defense said Partch thought LoReyna had the flu and had planned to take her to the doctor the following day if she didn't improve.

Jurors, who almost reached an impasse at one point, took close to 11 hours to come back with the not-guilty verdict.

Attempts to reach Partch and his attorney for comment for this story were unsuccessful.