Lawyer: San Mateo Toddler Crawled In Oven As Dad Slept

REDWOOD CITY (CBS/AP) -- The lawyer for a San Mateo County man charged with child abuse after his son was burned in an oven says the 17-month-old climbed inside the appliance while his father slept.

Defense attorney Mara Feiger told jurors Friday that 20-year-old Gregory Colver Jr. of Daly City falsely confessed to holding the child in the 425-degree oven in order to teach him about its dangers.

Feiger said Colver told that story because the boy's mother feared authorities would take the boy away if they knew he'd been unsupervised during the Dec. 28 incident. The toddler suffered second- and third-degree burns on his legs.

Prosecutor Shin-Mee Chang said it was "completely implausible" that such a young child could operate the oven and crawl inside without burning his hands, the San Mateo Daily Journal reports.

Colver faces approximately nine years in prison.

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