Charges dropped against Fresno father who was accused of shaking, injuring 5-month-old baby

Criminal charges were dropped Friday against a Fresno man accused of shaking his 5-month-old baby and causing a severe brain injury and permanent disabilities.

Amador Angel Zapata, 39, was charged in 2016 with assault on a child under 8 years old resulting in a comatose state and child abuse and endangerment. The child survived but has permanent injuries.

Had he been convicted, Zapata would have faced 7 years to life in prison. He has already spent three years in the Fresno County Jail waiting for his case to work its way through the system.

His public defender Marina Pincus said Zapata was relieved the ordeal was over.

“Mr. Zapata is a loving father who would never hurt any of his children,” she said. “Unfortunately doctors ignored the fact that his baby was not healthy and jumped to the conclusion that this was child abuse. We are glad that in the end justice was served and this case was dismissed.

Zapata, who was in court Friday with several relatives, declined to comment after the hearing before Judge Alvin M. Harrell, III.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Amy Cobb was disappointed at the outcome. But she said new evidence from one of the prosecution’s medical experts expanded the time frame for when the baby may have been injured, making it difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Zapata was guilty.

Prior to the new information, Cobb had identified a small window of time when Zapata was alone with the baby prior to being injured.

“Because of the expanded time period as to when this could have happened and the age of the case, we are not able to pinpoint a time and a person,” Cobb said. “To move forward with this case would not be appropriate.”

Despite dropping the charges, Cobb’s opinion on what caused Adrian’s injuries hasn’t changed.

“This does not exonerate anyone in this case,” she said. “It appears certain injuries were the result of child abuse. This did not have some other medical explanation other than shaking of the baby.”

Zapata told police in June, 2016 that he heard his son Adrian gurgling in the other room. The baby had been battling a virus and was throwing up. But when he went to check on him, he found him unconscious. .

When asked to explain what he did, Zapata offered conflicting stories, according to police. He told detectives the child fell out of the bassinet, then he said he accidentally dropped the baby. He also said the baby was choking and he might have shaken him, trying to resuscitate Adrian.

The baby was examined by doctors who concluded the injures Adrian suffered were consistent with abusive head trauma — or Shaken Baby Syndrome — as it used to be called.

Zapata was arrested, charged and put on trial in March 2020. But then COVID-19 hit and the courts shut down. The judge had to declare a mistrial. The trial was scheduled to resume in February, but was delayed as Pincus and Cobb consulted experts in abusive head trauma cases.

Pincus’s medical experts said the baby could have had a stroke from being dehydrated. Prior to being injured, the baby was taken to a hospital suffering from dehydration as a result of battling a virus and vomiting.

“I still strongly believe it was a stroke from dehydration,” Pincus said. “And the problem with shaken baby syndrome is that the symptoms are very similar.”