.

Chazarus, known as Cha Cha, endured abuse for mistakes such as giving a wrong answers when shown flash cards. Neighbors had called Child Protective Services and found that nothing would be done. Cha Cha's Paternal Gramdmother and Step Mother were both witnesses to his abuse,yet stood by and did nothing. Cha Cha's neighbors even went so far as to call his mother and Maternal Grandmother when the abuse got worse and CPS did nothing about it.  Cha Cha was beaten with sticks, belts and his fathers fists so much and so often that he was covered from head to toe with bruises.

A relative of of Cha Cha's had this to say:

Sadly, Cha Cha's mother and Paternal Grandmother were on their way to go and get him, after calling CPS and asking them to protected him until they got there, but by the time they arrived, Cha Cha was already dead. Cha Cha's Grandmother and mother were both crying while being interviewed and his Grandmother stated that if CPS had done something, he would be alive.

Charles hill admitted to beating Cha Cha, however, he later tried to blame the fatal beating on his wife who has had several children taken away from her by CPS. In court, Charles asked the Judge "I want to know where she is right now. ... It's supposed to be a trial together,".

Charles Hill was charged with one count of murder with a great bodily injury clause, and two felony counts of child abuse and assault on a child causing great bodily injury or death. If Charles is convicted he faces life in prison.

Charles' wife of only five months, Kymberly Dashon Ford Hill, was charged with one count of abuse likely to cause great bodily harm or death. Kymberly faces ONLY six years in prison if she is convicted.

UPDATE:
4 years for stepmom in young boy's death
Oakland Tribune,  Sep 22, 2004  by Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Kymberly Dashon Ford-Hill was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday for permitting the beating death of her 3-year-old stepson, Chazarus "Cha Cha" Hill Jr. 

Ford-Hill, 34, sat with Deputy Public Defender Kathy Ryals in a jury box to the right of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon and declined an opportunity to comment before he sentenced her. 

The only person to address Reardon for the record was Deputy District Attorney Jill Klinge, who told the judge she was no longer lobbying for Ford-Hill to be given the maximum sentence of six years in prison. Klinge credited the shift in position to Ford-Hill voluntarily testifying against her 24-year-old husband, Chazarus Hill Sr., at a preliminary hearing Friday. 

"I don't believe it's enough time for her," said Cha Cha's 31- year-old aunt, Tonya Foster, who sat in the gallery with the boy's biological mother during the brief sentencing hearing. "You don't stand around while this beating is being put on a3-year-old child." 

Foster said she believes Ford-Hill "contributed" more to the fatal beating than she is leting on. Foster paused outside the courtroom to hug the slain boy's mother, Tyrinza Brown, whose cheeks were streaked with tears. Brown wore a white sweat shirt with the words "Char Char My Baby." 

Four years in prison was the middle sentencing option allowed by law. The "aggravated term" of six years would have called for Reardon to determine Ford-Hill had a prior criminal history that warranted the harsher punishment. 

In addition to the prison time, Reardon ordered Ford-Hill to pay a $5,000 fine to a fund for witnesses and victims. 

Brushes with the lawFord-Hill's criminal history includes a January 2000 arrest for leaving four of her children, then ages 10 years through 4 months, in a car outside Pleasanton's Stoneridge mall while she and a friend shopped, according to Pleasanton police who took her into custody at that time on suspicion of child endangerment. 

Ford-Hill has no record of being convicted of the Pleasanton charges, but those children were removed from her custody. Her record shows a prior felony conviction in Santa Clara County for burglary and that she was on probation for a welfare fraud conviction at the time of her September arrest in connection with Cha Cha's slaying, 

Ford-Hill, who was represented by Deputy Public Defender Kathy Ryals, was charged with abusing a child or allowing such abuse. She married Hill five months before Cha Cha's Sept. 20, 2003, beating death. 

Hill, 24, faces trial on charges of murder with a great bodily injury clause, and felony child abuse and assault on a child causing great bodily injury or death. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

A battered little body

Investigators believe the abuse of the boy spanned weeks. His body was battered from head to toe. An autopsy concluded the toddler died from a brain injury. 

Hill admitted he hit his son as punishment for erring in a counting and ABCs game, police said. Ford-Hill was often there when Hill beat his son, both in Oakland and at a relative's home in San Leandro, according to police detectives. Cha Cha was apparently being pressured to learn quickly so he could be passed off as an older child in a welfare money scam. 

Brown has filed a civil lawsuit against Alameda County Child Protective Services and the Oakland Police Department for not reacting swiftly to signs her son was in peril. The Chino resident had left Cha Cha in his father's care.