A Roseville father believes he should not face trial on murder and torture charges in the death of his 9-year-old adopted son because, his lawyer argued, it was the defendant’s wife who sat on the boy and suffocated him of death.

Placer Superior Court Judge Angus Saint-Evens rejected that defense argument and upheld an earlier court ruling ordering both of the boy’s adoptive parents to stand trial for the child’s death.

Cory Albert Blakley, 38, and Kimberly Rachel Blakley38, were the adoptive parents of the boy who was identified by his family as Cyrus Blakley. The Placer County Prosecutor’s Office filed murder, torture and child abuse charges against both in connection with his death in February.

After testimony and evidence was presented in a three-day preliminary hearing in April, Judge Jeffrey Penney ordered The Blakleys will stand trial on charges of murder, torture and child abusealong with felony witness tampering charges. Prosecutors say the parents told the children not to speak truthfully to investigators. The Blakleys also face misdemeanor child endangerment charges.

But Cory Blakley, through his lawyer, filed a motion asking Judge Angus Saint-Evens to overturn Penny’s ruling. The the father believes he should not be charged with the son’s death. His attorney, Barry Zimmerman, argued that his client’s wife was solely responsible for the boy’s death.

The Blakleys were back in court Friday morning for a brief hearing in the murder case. The court scheduled the defendants to return to court on January 17 for further proceedings in their case. Their trial has not yet been scheduled.

The Blakleys had seven children – two biological and five of whom were adopted. They all lived together in a house on New England Drive, just east of Sunrise Boulevard.

Around 6 p.m., Feb. 2, officers and firefighters responded to a 911 call at the family’s home. The police found the impatient boy. Cyrus died three days later at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

The incident that led to Cyrus’ death began shortly after 5:00 p.m. on February 2 on the family’s living room couch, where the mother placed the child between her legs in a “vice-like grip,” pulled down his pants and hit him. buttocks nine times, according to the indictment. The boy was face down with his torso on a sofa cushion while his mother was directly above him.

In court documents, prosecutors said Ring cameras installed in the Roseville home captured sounds of the mother “hitting” the child and the boy’s “repeated apologies, gasps and cries that he couldn’t breathe, followed by silence.”

In April’s preliminary hearing, prosecutors argued that the mother was “getting revenge” on Cyrus after he told his classmates or school officials that his dogs had died and he was forced to take the pets outside.

Deputy District Attorney Andrew Braden, one of two prosecutors in the murder case, told Judge Penny that the mother could be heard on the video saying repeatedly that Child Protective Services would come and take the children because Cyrus was not family care.

Prosecutors say the mother sat on top of her adopted son and beat him continuously for about 40 minutes because the boy’s father did nothing to stop her.

Cyrus Blakley, who is identified in court documents as “CyB” or “CB,” died of “mechanical asphyxiation”; choked to death, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow argued in court filings opposing the father’s motion to dismiss.

“The father saw and heard the entire incident and never intervened,” Ow argued, “except to close a nearby window at the mother’s request when the victim’s cries were too loud.”

Ow also said that the father walked past the couch to close the window. The window, which was closed about 20 minutes after the shooting began, was about 12 to 15 meters away from a neighbor’s house, according to the prosecutor.

The defense attorney argued that prosecutors suggesting the child’s death would not have occurred if Cory Blakley had intervened is “pure speculation.” In his motion to dismiss, Zimmerman said there was no evidence to suggest Cory Blakley knew his son was likely to die from hitting his mother.

He also argued that the suffocation, while the mother was sitting on her child, could have happened without the father knowing before he had a chance to intervene.

“It is unclear whether Mr. Blakley even heard any statement from (Cyrus) that he could not breathe,” Zimmerman argued in court documents. “Cory Blakley is not the real killer. Furthermore, the prosecution cannot present any evidence that he intended to kill the child or that he aided or abetted Kimberly in the commission of the crime.”

The accused parents remain in custody at the Placer County Jail. On June 21, about five months after the police arrested the married couple from RosevilleCory Blakley has filed a petition in court seeking a divorce from his wife. This family court case is scheduled for a hearing on December 27.