LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Las Vegas man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son and concealing the boy’s body in a freezer spoke out of turn during a hearing Tuesday, accusing investigators and attorneys of deceiving him.
Brandon Toseland, 36, faces a murder charge in the death of Mason Dominguez. Police arrested Toseland on Feb. 22, 2022, after Mason’s mother was able to sneak messages into her 7-year-old daughter’s shoe. Toseland is charged with 12 felonies, including murder, child abuse, kidnapping, and battery domestic violence.
Mason had undergone months of reported abuse at the hands of Toseland and was taken out of school to avoid teachers seeing his injuries, documents obtained by the 8 News Now Investigators last year said. The boy was last seen alive on Dec. 11, 2021. He lived with his mother, sister and Toseland at a northeast valley home.
Toseland was in court Tuesday for a hearing on a new public defender. Toseland dismissed his previous counsel during a hearing last week.
“This whole case is built off of deception,” Toseland told District Court Judge Carli Kierny. “There was a perfect testimony.”
Kierny suggested to Toseland that he stop talking since he had no counsel and because there was a camera in the courtroom.
“There’s a camera right in your face,” Kierny said. “You have no attorney, you have no one appointed at this point. An attorney would advise you not to talk right now.”
“I’m OK. I’m going to talk right now if I may,” Toseland said, adding he did not want to be assigned the public defender whom the court suggested and that the case was built on “theatrics.” The hearing continued Tuesday behind closed doors.
In addition to his criminal case, Toseland is also being sued in civil court.
“From the beginning they, from what I know, they put a preliminary injunction,” Toseland said during a March 1 hearing, according to a transcript. “Communication between me and my counsel, as I stated, I haven’t spoke [sic] with him since I retained him April 9. The only person I talked to approximately four times was the private investigator who has been very biased and deceitful.”
In addition to a murder charge, a grand jury indicted Toseland on child abuse charges involving the 7-year-old girl. The two charges allege Toseland choked the child with his arm and, in another alleged instance last year, with a vacuum cord, documents said.
Mason’s mother said she and her two children moved into Toseland’s home in March 2021. The home is located on Saddle Brook Park Drive, near the intersection of Carey Avenue and Lamb Boulevard in the northeast valley. Toseland’s two children from a previous relationship also lived in the home, but were not there all the time due to their mother having shared custody, documents said.
When police arrested Toseland in February 2022 after a traffic stop, officers noticed a set of handcuffs where Mason’s mother was sitting in the passenger seat. Toseland was also in possession of her phone, documents said.
Dominguez’s body was discovered inside Toseland’s northeast valley garage concealed in a trash bag in the freezer. Detectives believe Mason had been there for at least 10 weeks and that a large hole in the backyard may be a potential grave, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported last year.
Prosecutors said they are considering the death penalty should Toseland be convicted. Toseland has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Toseland declined an interview request Tuesday.
