Defense in Simi Beating Case Says Women Were Framed

Defense attorneys for a Simi Valley mother and daughter on trial on suspicion of attempted murder and arson argued in court Wednesday that the alleged victim attempted to frame them by setting fire to his own bed.

With the case going to jurors Wednesday, Eileen Childs, 37, and her daughter, Jennifer Childs, 19, face charges of trying to kill Larry Childs, Eileen’s husband and Jennifer’s stepfather, by setting his bed ablaze and then beating him with a baseball bat.

“This was a frame-up, beyond a shadow of a doubt,” said Jean Farley, attorney for Jennifer Childs, an aspiring pop singer.

Larry Childs was stressed out from work, frustrated with his failing marriage, and wanted some way out, said Jenny Scovis, attorney for Eileen Childs.

Defense attorneys previously said they believed the fire had been sparked accidentally by a candle in the bedroom.

“That fire was not accidental. I believe Larry Childs started that fire,” Scovis told jurors. “Although I have no idea how he had intended for things to play out.”

Prosecutors countered by saying there would be no reasonable way for such a plan to work, and urged jurors to reject the theory.

“I’m pretty stressed out right now, but I’m not going to go set a fire and try to kill somebody,” Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Lee said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Jurors began their deliberations Wednesday.

Both the mother and daughter are charged with arson and attempted murder stemming from their early morning altercation with Larry Childs on March 25.

Prosecutors say the women conspired to kill Childs by setting fire to his bed while he slept. When that didn’t work, prosecutors said, the defendants tried to finish the job by beating Childs with a baseball bat and glass mug.

Their motive was a $1.4-million life insurance policy, say prosecutors, contending the women wanted to use the money to further Jennifer Childs’ career as a singer and possibly open a Jiffy Lube franchise.

Eileen and Jennifer Childs, however, testified they did not start the fire and had hit Larry Childs in self-defense after they said he dragged them down a hallway by their hair and tried to hurt them.

The six-week case culminated Wednesday with closing arguments, which Judge Herbert Curtis III limited to two hours for each of the three attorneys.

Lee summed up her case by urging jurors to ask themselves which version of the incident made the most sense.

Larry Childs testified he awoke to find his bed in flames, and when he went to find his family was ambushed by his wife and step-daughter swinging baseball bats.

With his head bleeding profusely, he grabbed two drinking glasses and rushed back to the mattress to douse the flames, he testified. The story is consistent with blood evidence found at the scene, Lee argued.

If Eileen and Jennifer Childs were the victims of a rage-filled attack by Larry Childs, Lee asked, then why were they not injured?

Lee also asked why no one heard the women screaming for help, and asked why both women reentered the house after they had escaped to safety?

“He was saying, ‘Oh, my God,’ ‘Help me,’ and ‘I’m on fire,’ ” Lee said. “These are words of somebody being the victim of an attack. He was the only one screaming.”

Defense attorneys attempted a common-sense argument to urge jurors to reject the prosecution’s theory.

These are smart women, said Farley, adding that if they wanted to kill Larry Childs why would they choose to do so using a mattress fire, a bat and mug? Scovis said the bottom line is that prosecutors have not proved their case. “Where is the proof that these women did anything at all?” she asked.

“The evidence was torqued like a pretzel to fit the prosecution’s case. I hope we don’t convict people in this country with such a lack of evidence.”