Defense attorneys representing the legal guardian of a 7-year-old boy who starved to death said today that the boy was naturally thin and had trouble gaining weight.
“He eats like a horse and doesn’t gain any weight,” said defense attorney Ann England, who added that Chandler Grafner’s weight hovered from 33 to 34 pounds for an 18-month period before he turned five years old. Grafner died in May, three years later, weighing the same 34 pounds.
Jon Phillips, 26, the former boyfriend of Chandler’s mother, Christina Grafner, was given custody of Chandler and his half-brother in January. Phillips was given custody because he is the biological father of the half-brother and claims to have been the “psychological father” of Chandler. Phillips was living with his new girlfriend, Sarah Berry, 21, when the two kids came to live with them.
Phillips and Berry each have been charged with first-degree murder of a child, first-degree murder after deliberation and child abuse resulting in death.
At a preliminary hearing in Denver District Court today, prosecutors presented testimony from a doctor from Swedish Medical Center who examined Chandler when he was rushed to the hospital. He told officials that Grafner would have to have been deprived for a month and a half to be in the condition he was in when he died.
Police Detective Larry Moore testified that he was called to Swedish after Grafner died and viewed his body there.
“He looked like a concentration-camp prisoner,” Moore said.
Moore also testified that Grafner’s half-brother told police that Chandler was often kept in a linen closet. The boy told officials the closet had been rigged with screws and a piece of string to lock it.
The half-brother told police that Phillips had cleaned up the closet before police arrived.
Prosecutors also introduced evidence that social-service workers had investigated allegations of abuse in January. Chandler allegedly had bruises on his neck and ear. However, no abuse could be proven at the time, they said.
The judge in the case bound the two over for trial.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-954-1244 or akane@denverpost.com.
