Mom Accused of Killing Son She Thought Was Gay

Jessica Dutro trial begins
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 28, 2014 10:44 AM CDT
Mom Accused of Killing Son She Thought Was Gay
Jessica Dutro is seen in this police photo.   (Washington County Sheriff's Office)

An Oregon mom is on trial for allegedly beating her son to death, which she did, prosecutors told the court this week, because she believed the 4-year-old was gay. On Wednesday the judge in the case ruled that prosecutors could introduce as evidence a Facebook message in which Jessica Dutro, 25, told her boyfriend Brian Canady, 24, that her son Zachary was "facing the wall" for making her angry, the Oregonian reports. He's going to be gay, Dutro wrote, using a slur. "He walks and talks like it. Ugh." She said the two would have to "work on" the boy.

Yesterday, Dutro's 8-year-old daughter testified that facing the wall was a common punishment, the Oregonian reports. Dutro would make the children stand holding their arms in the air, and hit them if they relaxed, she said, adding that Dutro and Canady also often gave her and her brother "lickins." She described the night her brother "got dead" this way, according to Inquisitr:

  • "Jessica and Brian, they kept hitting him and punching him. He didn't listen to them, so they kicked him and punched him and stuff and they kept doing it and doing it."
That beating allegedly tore the boy's bowels. Zachary Dutro-Boggess was brought to the hospital on Aug. 14, 2012, and was taken off life support two days later. Canady has already pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault. (More Jessica Dutro stories.)

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