In a harrowing case of violence against a child in Hawthorne, a jury has returned guilty verdicts against Ida Helen Brockman, 34, and her boyfriend, Malachi Xavier Whalen, 33, for the murder and torture of Brockman's 7-year-old daughter, A'Miya D. According to the Los Angeles Fox News report, the conviction was handed down Wednesday, with the jury also finding the special circumstance of intentional torture-murder to be true for each defendant.
Facts from the trial, as detailed in the District Attorney's Office, reveal that Brockman and Whalen were also convicted of one count each of torture, while Brockman additionally faced a child abuse causing death charge and Whalen an assault on a child causing death count. On the fateful day of September 9, 2021, A’Miya endured a brutal beating that ended her young life, with the couple initially trying to pin the crime on her biological father, although Brockman later confessed to fabricating that story.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reported that A'Miya had suffered more than 58 distinct injuries, which included but were not limited to severe burns, blunt force trauma, fractured ribs, and a collapsed lung. "This was a case that shook us all to our core," District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman was quoted as saying, in the LA County DA’s press release, "The brutal murder of A'Miya, a defenseless 7-year-old girl, at the hands of her own mother and her mother’s boyfriend is nothing short of horrific."
Furthermore, Hochman extended gratitude to Deputy District Attorneys David Zygielbaum and Kelly Kraetsch, LASD Homicide Detectives Matthew Landreth and Frank Heredia, and the entire Family Violence Division's prosecutorial team for their relentless efforts to achieve justice for A’Miya and he promised that the DA's office will continue its fight to protect the vulnerable and work to prevent tragic acts of violence like this and they are extending every possible effort to address such heinous crimes. The sentencing hearing for the couple is scheduled for September 12, marking an end to a trial as tragic as it is shocking.
