The San Bernardino Mountains couple accused of killing 1-year-old Henry Wheatley Brown are in protective custody as they await a possible trial. Samantha Victoria Garver, 34, and her boyfriend, Sergio Vincent Mena, 33, wore olive-green jail jumpsuits when they appeared in San Bernardino County Superior Court on Tuesday, Jan. 7, signifying that they are being held apart from the general population, which wears orange. Garver is jailed at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, while Mena is in custody at High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto. The reason for why they are not in the general population was not discussed in open court on Tuesday. But those accused of crimes against children are sometimes separated from other inmates. Sergio Mena and defense attorney J.C. Allen stand together before his hearing at San Bernardino Justice Center on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. Mena and his girlfriend Samantha Garver are accused of murder in the 2023 death of Garver’s 1-year-old son, Henry Wheatley Brown. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) On Tuesday, a new court date of April 8 was set when lawyers and the judge will discuss the case’s status. The District Attorney’s Office said it needed more time to assign a lead prosecutor to the case. The defendants were arrested on Oct. 2, 2023. Garver has pleaded not guilty to murder. Mena, who was not the child’s biological father, has denied charges of murder and child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury. Their attorneys, Christopher Lucero for Garver and J.C. Allen for Mena, declined to comment to a reporter Tuesday. Family members of Mena also declined to be interviewed as they left the San Bernardino Justice Center building. Henry Wheatley Brown. (Courtesy of Stephanie Duncan) Henry died in a hospital on Oct. 1, 2023, after paramedics were called to the couple’s home in Sugarloaf, a community east of Big Bear Lake. At the home, they found Henry unresponsive and with burns. Garver told a county Children and Family Services investigator that she left Henry with Mena at the home and went out for the night — even though she knew Mena had been using methamphetamine and had not slept for two days, a caseworker says in a document. Mena told an investigator that he left Henry in a bathtub with the water running while he got high, the document says. Garver returned home in the morning to find Henry with the burns, on his penis and lower legs, the document says. Garver and Mena provided no care for Henry for 12 hours aside from treating him with an antihistamine until they called 911 around 8 p.m., the document says. They told paramedics that Henry’s heart had stopped about 20 minutes before. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Public documents show that county officials were warned by a grandmother and the mom of a babysitter that Henry might be in danger. But Henry remained in the couple’s care. Related Articles Courts | 2 bodies found in the landing gear of JetBlue plane at Florida airport Courts | Homes burning as massive wildfire spreads in Pacific Palisades amid strong windstorm Courts | Strong winds hit Southern California — with likely much more on the way Courts | Appeals court rejects Trump’s latest attempt to get Friday’s hush money sentencing called off Courts | New Orleans attack came at a time of political heat, and transition, for the FBI