A Roseville father believes he shouldn’t stand trial on murder and torture charges in the death of his 9-year-old adopted son because, his attorney argued, that it was the defendant’s wife who sat on the boy and suffocated him to death.

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

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

After testimony and evidence was presented in a three-day April preliminary hearing, Judge Jeffrey Penney ordered the Blakleys to stand trial on the murder, torture and child abuse charges, along with felony charges of dissuading witnesses. The prosecutors allege the parents told the children not to speak truthfully to investigators. The Blakleys also face misdemeanor charges of child endangerment.

But Cory Blakley, through his attorney, submitted a motion asking Judge Angus Saint-Evens to overturn Penny’s ruling. The father believes he shouldn’t face any charges in son’s death. His defense attorney, Barry Zimmerman, has argued it was his client’s wife who is solely responsible for the boy’s death.

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

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

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

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

In court documents, prosecutors have said Ring-brand cameras installed inside the family’s Roseville home captured sounds of the mother “striking” the child and the boy’s “repeated apologies, gasps for breath and cries that he could not breathe, followed by silence.”

In the April preliminary hearing, prosecutors argued the mother was “exacting revenge” on Cyrus after he told 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 the two prosecutors in the murder case, told Judge Penny that the mother could be heard in the video repeatedly saying Child Protective Services was going to come and take the children away because Cyrus didn’t care about the family.

Prosecutors allege that the mother sat on her adopted son and beat him continuously for about 40 minutes as the boy’s father did nothing to stop it.

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

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

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

The defense attorney argued that prosecutors suggesting that the child’s death wouldn’t have happened had Cory Blakley intervened is “pure speculation.” In the filed motion to dismiss, Zimmerman said there’s no evidence to suggest Cory Blakley was aware that his son was likely to die from his mother’s spanking.

He also argued that the suffocation, while the mother sat on her child, may have well happened without the father knowing before he would have had a chance to intervene.

“It is unclear whether Mr. Blakley even heard any statement by (Cyrus) that he could not breathe,” Zimmerman argued in court documents.

The accused parents remain in custody at the Placer County Jail. On June 21, Cory Blakley filed a petition in court seeking a divorce from his wife. That case is scheduled for a hearing Dec. 27.