"That becomes a proof problem," said Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria. "We try and put together the most logical scenario with the help of the medical examiner, though he might not be able to say categorically what the cause of death was."

Prosecutors hesitate to file first-degree murder charges against alleged child killers, opting instead for the lesser charge of child abuse homicide, which is no higher than a second-degree felony.

"I don't see that as not doing justice," Barlow said. With a plea, you get the bad guy, you get some acknowledgement, and families of the people can heal rather than have a case that drags on, he said.

Barlow recently won a first-degree murder conviction with a case the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office twice rejected, once shortly after 5-month-old Luther Deem suffered a permanent brain injury from what appeared to be shaking and then 12 years later when he died from severe neurological damage.

When a case does go to trial, defense attorneys are good at giving juries an out, an alternative explanation as to what might have happened. Jurors quickly latch onto those theories because they don't want to believe a parent or caretaker would beat or shake a child to death.

"The truth of the matter is immaterial," says Grey.

"The defense is giving people an out," he said. "People don't want to believe this is going on in our community."

True, said Tim Langan, a 53-year-old retired UPS driver who served as jury foreman during one of the state's high-profile child homicide trials.

South Weber day-care provider Jeri Daines was charged with murder for allegedly shaking 4-month-old Clancy Peterson to death. The jury acquitted her, Langan said, because the prosecution didn't present a strong case for murder. Jurors did not see the grandmotherly Daines as a killer.

"In order to convict them, you have to believe they're actually capable to commit the type of act they're accused of doing," Langan said. "It was hard to believe she would have done that."

Still, the question remains:

If this happened to a stranger, an adult stranger, what would the penalty be?

This 2-year-old boy had 60 injuries on the inside and outside of his body.

Edward Raymond Gularte III told police his 2-year-old namesake must have been fatally injured falling down a flight of stairs or rough-housing with his 3-year-old brother.

Assistant Utah Medical Examiner Maureen Frikke found injuries covering the body of Edward Raymond Gularte IV that she testified couldn't have come from a fall or rough play with a sibling. Severe blows to the abdomen killed him. His liver had a 1 1/2 inch long tear. Part of his small intestine was cut in half.

Edward Raymond Gularte III ultimately pleaded to a reduced charge of third-degree felony child-abuse homicide in the death of his son.