Systematic Child Abuse Over Time Supports Aggravated Mayhem (Penal Code 205) Conviction

For six years, Defendant Joseph Robert Horvath and his wife tortured, beat and maimed their adopted daughter, starting when she was nine and ending when she was fifteen. The wife thought her husband was sexually molesting the daughter, so she beat the girl until she confirmed this was so. Then the husband would take over and beat the girl for such an accusation, which was false.

The abuse ended when the daughter ran away on Halloween evening in 2007 and called a teen safe house, which picked her up at a nearby McDonald’s. She was then taken to an emergency room.

The injuries, a doctor determined, were at various stages of healing and were to the daughter’s lips, ears, head, teeth, mouth and arms.

The prosecutor in the Superior Court of Sacramento County charged Horvath with three counts of aggravated mayhem (Penal Code

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