LITTLE ROCK — Pulaski County jurors who will decide whether a 7-weekold child’s skull fracture was the result of deliberate abuse or accidental injury heard conflicting testimony Wednesday from medical experts.
At stake for defendant Shaun Lamond Washington of Little Rock is a potential life sentence if he is convicted of first-degree battery. The 10 women and two men hearing evidence return to the courtroom at 10:45 a.m. today for the trial’s conclusion. Defense attorney Lisa Thompson reported she could call as many as 14 witnesses on Washington’s behalf, but has not said whether he will testify.
What is undisputed so far is that while Washington cared for Maegen Dowd and her 4-year-old brother Xavier Hood Jr. for 15 hours overnight in February, Maegen went from healthy to grievously injured with a fractured skull and bleeding in her eyes and head, and bruises on her arms, head and legs as well as inside her mouth.
Washington was caring for the children while their mother, Shayla Dowd, 22, was out celebrating her birthday by “partying” and having “too much to drink,” Thompson told jurors. Washington isn’t parent to either child, but loved Maegen like his own, she said. His relationship with Dowd began when she was two weeks two pregnant by another man, Thompson said, calling Washington “the only father [Maegen’s] ever known.”
“He loved her even before she was born,” Thompson said, describing the 28-year-old Arkansas National Guardsman as a loving father to two daughters in Mississippi. “What motive would he have to hurt a child?”
Washington and Dowd, who is supporting Washington, were living together with the baby while the boy lived with Dowd’s mother, who has since gained custody of both children.
Washington told authorities the injuries were accidental and the culmination of a series of unfortunate events, possibly beginning with the little boy hitting the baby in the head with a toy truck. Thompson said he had backhanded the baby in his sleep after moving the fussy child to his bed to try to comfort her. He also dropped her from his lap after she became physically ill and squirmed in his arms, likely from a seizure, Thompson said.
Deputy prosecutor Lauren White told jurors that Washington’s account of how the girl was injured has evolved as he told a subtlety changing story to doctors, paramedics, social workers and police.
Washington has said he saw the boy throw a toy truck that hit his sister and he has said he didn’t see that — he just heard the girl cry out and saw the toy next to her, White said. He has added details about whether the baby cried, how he happened to strike the girl in his sleep and how the baby fell to the floor, the prosecutor said.
Significantly, White said, he had to be urged by Dowd’s mother, Patsy Moore, to call 911 for the stricken infant after Moore arrived to find the baby unresponsive and barely breathing. Moore said she performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the baby before the ambulance arrived.
Differing testimony came from Dr. Maria Esquivel for the prosecution and Dr. John Galaznik, the defense expert.
Esquivel, an Arkansas Children’s Hospital pediatrician with specialized training in recognizing child abuse, helped treat the baby. Galaznik is an Alabama academic who has studied and written about blunt-force trauma on infants and reached his conclusions after reviewing the baby’s medical records.
Esquivel said the baby’s injuries showed she had been subjected to two types of trauma — “whiplash” to her head that caused eye hemorrhaging, and a skull-fracturing blow that resulted in bleeding in the head. She said the injuries could have killed the girl and the full effects won’t be known until she gets older, but include possible blindness and likely developmental delays.
Esquivel testified that Washington’s description of how the baby was hurt doesn’t sufficiently explain all of her injuries.
Galaznik said he saw no indications that the baby had suffered serious brain damage, testifying that the eye and brain bleeding all resulted from the single impact of her head hitting the floor. Dropped from 3 feet, a child’s head can reach a speed of 7.5 mph, with the potential to inflict serious injury to a skull that’s 0.04 inch thick, he said.
Since 2009, Galaznik said the medical establishment has come to reject the idea that eye hemorrhages like the ones suffered by Maegen can result from being shaken, he said.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 11/15/2012