Couple Arraigned on New Abuse Charges

VALENCIA —  A Canyon Country couple were arraigned Tuesday on new charges of torture and child abuse, adding to the list of accusations stemming from the alleged abuse of their four children, including a son who was 3 weeks old when he was critically injured.

Attorneys also agreed Tuesday to delay a bail hearing for Sheila Jackman, 31, and Carl Oliveri, 37, until next Tuesday.

The couple already have pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated mayhem and attempted murder in connection with the cracked skull and brain damage suffered last month by their son Justin.

The case has stunned many in the Santa Clarita Valley, especially because the risky surgery performed on Justin saved his life, but he still is severely brain-damaged.

“This is probably the youngest victim I have ever seen,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacquelyn Lacey. “It is so severe and so heart-rending,” she said, adding that the infant boy’s injuries are so serious that they will cause him neurological problems for the rest of his life.

“Normally we have trouble getting doctors to cooperate with us because they don’t want to spend time in court, but all of [Justin’s] doctors have been very helpful. The hospital staff is very affected by this. The main question everyone has is, ‘Why?’ ”

Jackman and Oliveri are being held on $500,000 bail apiece. Lacey said she hopes to increase the bail by $30,000, adding that attorneys for the couple filed a request that bail be waived in exchange for their promise to appear in court.

Alternate Public Defender James Bruns, representing Jackman, refused to comment Tuesday pending his review of the new charges. Public Defender Rose Reglos also declined comment, explaining that she plans to refer the case to a public defender from elsewhere in the county.

On Sept. 12, Jackman and Oliveri brought their son to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, authorities said. When doctors there discovered a severe fracture of the baby’s skull, they notified sheriff’s investigators.

Jackman was arrested at the hospital and Oliveri later was apprehended at the couple’s home on Soledad Canyon Road.

Lacey said interviews with the baby’s doctors and child-welfare workers who are familiar with the family led to the additional charges concerning their children ages 2, 5 and 8.

“We believe the bruises [on all the children] occurred over time because they are in various stages of healing,” she said. “Normally you see this with drug abusers and parents who get frustrated with the parenting process. But we really are not sure yet what happened here.”

Authorities would not divulge the whereabouts of Justin--”for his own safety,” in Lacey’s words. But they say he is recovering, physically.