With her 4-year-old grandson lying in a coma less than five miles away from Salt Lake City's federal courthouse, Charlissa Sireech on Friday formally denied delivering the blows that put him there.
Sireech, 45, entered seven barely audible not-guilty pleas to seven criminal counts alleging she abused the boy and his 3-year-old brother. The abuse is alleged to have occurred between Aug. 9-30 while the two boys lived with Sireech at her home on the Uintah-Ouray Indian reservation.
Sireech, the boys' maternal grandmother, is accused of repeatedly throwing the boys to the hardwood floor of her home and burning the younger child with a heated curling iron. Court documents indicate she was angry because the boys spoke Spanish and wouldn't do as they were told.
Prosecutors on Friday asked U.S. Magistrate Brooke Wells to order that Sireech be kept in federal custody pending trial in the case, scheduled to begin Nov. 15.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Bearnson pointed to Sireech's criminal history and the nature of the alleged abuse.
"This case involves child physical abuse of the most egregious nature," she said.
The older boy is expected to survive, Bearnson said, but probably will never walk or talk again. The younger boy is expected to recover physically from his wounds, burns and bruising on his head and face but will suffer long-term psychological effects, she said.
The 3-year-old is in the custody of his paternal grandmother, with whom the boys had been living in California until they moved to Utah in early August, Bearnson said. The woman also has custody of the boys' 1-year-old sister. Their half-sisters, ages 7 and 8, have been placed in the custody of Indian Health Services.
All five children had been living with Sireech and her boyfriend, court documents state. Sireech's daughter is the mother of all the children and is not involved in their upbringing, officials said.
According to prosecutors, Sireech has been arrested at least 30 times by Ute tribal officers, largely on alcohol-related offenses. She has a 2003 conviction for intoxication and child endangerment that apparently involved children other than her grandchildren.
Citing the "extraordinarily aggravating circumstances" of the case, Wells found that Sireech presented a danger to the community and ordered her continued detention. The seven charges, assault resulting in serious bodily injury and assault with a dangerous weapon, each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com