SBS: Texas: Jose Manuel Brito charged

 

EL PASO, Texas —

A 3-month-old baby taken to a local hospital with serious injuries prompts El Paso police to investigate its father. The child who was taken to University Medical Center by its father had several injuries to its head, which medical examiners determined were caused by shaken baby syndrome. They also found and nine broken ribs that were in the healing stage, police said.
Jose Manuel Brito, 27, the baby’s father, was arrested and charged on Oct. 19 with injury to a child.
According to police, Brito told investigators the baby had choked on milk and stopped breathing and said he had to perform CPR.
He remains jailed on a $100,000 bond.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/el-paso-father-jailed-on-injury-to-child-charge/nFPX9/

SBS: Texas: Prosecutors lower charges for Suzanna Harwell

Heather Nolan :  July 12, 2011

In a Tyler County courtroom on Friday, Suzanna Harwell told a judge she had no intention of hurting her 6-month-old son in 2009 when she left him alone, drinking from his bottle - an incident that ultimately led to his death.

Harwell was home alone with Brandel on Oct. 1, 2009. She claims she propped the baby up on the sofa, placed a pillow on his chest, gave him a bottle and left the room.

When she came back a few minutes later, it appeared Brandel had thrown up. After a few minutes she noticed he wasn't breathing well and he was possibly unconscious.

He died four days later.

Tyler County sheriff's deputies arrested Harwell in March 2010 and charged the 25-year-old mother with capital murder. Her bond was set at $1 million.

An autopsy ruled Brandel's death a homicide and contended he died from blunt force head trauma. The state alleged the trauma resulted from Harwell shaking the infant, Harwell's attorney, Ryan Gertz, said.

Prosecutors studied the evidence in the case, medical experts wrote letters disputing the autopsy findings and her charge eventually was downgraded to criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony. Harwell pleaded guilty to the charge Friday and was sentenced to two years in jail. She will be released early next year.

Her case is an example of what has become a controversial diagnosis known as shaken baby syndrome. In recent years, new evidence has surfaced that shaken baby syndrome is sometimes wrongly diagnosed, and some people have had convictions reversed because of it.

NPR, PBS Frontline and ProPublica and studied nearly two dozen cases in the U.S. and Canada where people were convicted of killing children but later acquitted or had the charges dropped.

Not enough evidence

After her arrest, a Tyler County grand jury indicted Harwell on the capital murder charge and prosecutors said that although she could get the death penalty, they wouldn't pursue that option.

Tyler County Assistant District Attorney Daniel Hunt said after reviewing the case, prosecutors decided she should be re-indicted on an injury to a child charge. After further review, prosecutors decided to again re-indict Harwell on criminally negligent homicide, Hunt said.

The capital murder and injury to a child charges were dropped Friday, Gertz said.

The only reason prosecutors agreed to lower Harwell's charge is because they were not sure they had enough evidence to convince a jury to convict her, Hunt said.

They did not want to take the chance of bringing the case to trial and possibly have her walk away if jurors did not agree with their presentation, he said. He cited the jurors' decision in last week's Casey Anthony trial as an example of how a jury can sometimes surprise prosecutors.

"I personally am firmly convinced this baby was murdered," he said. "Was I going to be able to convince 12 jurors of that? I didn't think so."

 http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Prosecutors-lower-charges-for-Tyler-County-woman-1462849.php#ixzz1S8L7y9IT

SIDS: Texas: indictment after second death

June 27, 2011 : JESSICA COOLEY

Vanessa Clark

Mark Clark

A Lufkin couple has been indicted on a charge of child endangerment after their second infant in two years died while sleeping in their bed against Child Protective Services instruction.
Mark and Vanessa Clark, both 32, were formally charged by a grand jury last Thursday in their infant boy’s July 9, 2010, death, according to District Attorney Clyde Herrington. As for the grand jury’s decision to indict the couple, Herrington called it is a peculiar case as the couple lost another baby in a similar sleeping incident 14 months earlier.
“There was a previous investigation with another child by Child Protective Services. The first infant’s death was ruled (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome),” Herrington said. “In the (new) case, the child was about 3 or 4 months old and sleeping in the bed with the parents. They woke up and found him not breathing.”
Following the first infant’s death, the couple was given a course by Child Protective Services in safe sleeping practices, according to CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam. That information strictly states sleeping with an infant puts the child at risk for suffocation, Pulliam said.
Herrington went on to say that the infant’s death is neither a negligent homicide nor a murder, but the grand jury felt the parents put the child in danger by sleeping with him.
“We presented the facts to grand jury and they felt the parents put the child in danger,” he said. “It’s a really tragic case.”
The Clarks are out of the Angelina County Jail on $5,000 bonds, according to court records.
Endangering a child is a state jail felony carrying a sentence of up to two years. State jail sentences are served day for day.
According to information on the Texas Department of Family Protective Services website, almost 400 Texas babies die in their sleep each year either suddenly and without a clear explanation or due to accidental suffocation or strangulation.
http://lufkindailynews.com/news/local/article_aea87510-a0e6-11e0-b30c-001cc4c002e0.html

SIDS: Texas: Day Care incident

CINDY GEORGE : June 7, 2011

 

Homicide detectives and state child care licensing officials are investigating a northwest Houston day care where a 9-month-old stopped breathing Friday and later died.

Andrew Fuentes was dropped off on Friday morning and went into "distress" that afternoon, said Gwen Carter, a spokeswoman for Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

CPR was in progress when Harris County deputies responded to a 911 call placed around 1:25 p.m., said Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

Andrew was transported to Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Gilliland said.

The baby was healthy, with no visible marks, and possibly succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS, the sheriff's office spokesman said.

SIDS is the unexpected, sudden death of a child younger than 1 in which an autopsy does not show an explainable cause of death. Autopsy results are pending at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Child care licensing authorities, who were at the center on Monday night, usually have 30 to 45 days to complete their investigation, Carter said.

The center remains open. Carter said that workers there are cooperating with the investigation.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7599915.html#ixzz1Omlu83ZO

SBS: Texas: Child abuse not always visible

May 11, 2011 kellie.bramlet@lubbockonline.com | leesha.faulkner@lubbockonline.com |

Many of the children in the South Plains who have been abused carry no easily visible scars or bruises.
In 2010, Covenant Health System esti-mates doctors saw roughly 25 confirmed cases of child abuse.
Most of those were shaken baby syndrome, said Amy Campbell, Covenant Pediatric Trauma surgeon. Shaking a baby can cause severe head trauma, resulting in brain damage or even death.
University Medical Center experienced similar numbers in 2009, said Eric Finley, media relations coordi-nator. However, that’s not what Child Protective Services sees.
A majority of cases reported — roughly 60 percent — are in-stances of neglect. “Most neglect cases don’t wind up in hospitals,” said Paul Zimmerman, a CPS public information officer.
But the effects of neglect can be just as devastating. “It tends to be cyclic,” Zimmerman said. “The question is how do you stop the cycle.” Hospitals and other organizations address abuse like shaken baby syndrome by passing out pamphlets and videos that provide parents with ways to cope with their frustration. They use the same techniques to prevent neglect. But the issue can be complicated be-cause there are different types of neglect, including emotional, physical, medical and supervisional.
Organizations prevent neglect not by telling new parents what not to do, but by instead focusing on what a good parents does do. Renee Morales, executive director of Teen Parents of Lubbock, said she strives to prevent neglect by bringing young parents together with positive mentors.
The teens listen to speakers like a pe-diatrician who discuss signs their baby may be sick, which could prevent medi-cal neglect. Morales also is always on hand to answer questions about diaper rash or how to properly clean a bottle. She explained that many parents, particularly the younger ones, don’t intend to neglect their children.“Sometimes they just don’t know,” Morales said.
http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2011-05-11/child-abuse-not-always-visible

SBS: Texas: Natisha Fish pleads guilty to first degree felonies

April 27, 2011

RUSK — The second parent in a child abuse case entered a plea Wednesday in Cherokee Coun-ty’s county court.
Natisha Finch, 22, of Jacksonville pled guilty to two counts of injury of a child, one for injury by omission and one by act, both first degree felonies.
Finch was sentenced to 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on each charge, to be served concurrently, said Cherokee County Assistant District Attorney Rachel Patton.
Tyrone Hayes, 22, of Jacksonville, with whom Finch had the child, was convicted of the same charges and received 50 years incarceration for his role in the abuse.
The case began in 2009 when Finch and her mother took 7-week-old Xzavier Hayes to East Texas Medical Center in Jacksonville.
“He was suffering from failure to thrive from lack of nutrition and what is commonly known as shaken baby syndrome,” Patton said. “He's suffered some pretty extensive damage and he'll be suffering from life long effects.”
After arriving at the hospital, Xzavier had a core temperature of 89 degrees and unresponsive. He was taken to a children's hospital in Dallas, where further examination determined he had “subdural hemorrhages” and broken ribs.
Examinations showed he was suffering from severe injuries which doctors expect will affect him the rest of his life, Patton said.
“The damage done to his brain would be similar to what you'd find in a stroke patient,” Patton said. “(Doctors) didn't give him much of a chance.”
Today, Xzavier, now nearly 2 years old, is up for adoption, as Finch and Hayes have been stripped of their parental rights in civil court.
The damage he suffered will undoubtedly impact him the rest of his life, Patton said, but Xzavier is more that what's happened to him.
“Any family who is lucky enough to have him in there lives would have to give him a lot, but he'd give them a lot in return,” Patton said. “He's a sweet baby and he'll have a lot to give a family.”
http://jacksonvilleprogress.com/local/x58990112/Abused-baby-s-mother-pleads-guilty

SBS: Texas: Bobby Collins accused

April 2, 2011

HOUSTON -- A 25-year old man is wanted after he allegedly physically abused two young children, police said.
Bobby Collins Jr. is accused of abusing his son and also his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son.
Investigators said Collins had been watching his son on the night of June 18, 2008 when the child was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital and found to brain injury consistent with "shaken baby syndrome."

Then on March 03 Collins was watching the 3-year-old son of his girlfriend and the child was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital with two swollen black eyes and two fractures in his right arm, investigators said.  The child also had a hemorrhage in his head which required a blood transfusion due blood that was lost, police said.
The child said Collins hurt him.
Collins is wanted for two counts of injury to a child-serious bodily injury.

 http://www.khou.com/news/Man-accused-of-severely-injuring-two-young-children-119106724.html

SBS: Texas: Jeromy de la Garza charged with capital murder

Eileen Gonzales, March 7, 2011

 

POTEET, Texas -- Unless it comes to strawberries, the town of Poteet rarely makes the news.

Major crimes are rare, so the death of a 6-month-old at the hands of his mother's boyfriend has shaken the community.


"You wouldn't think it would happen here," said Vanessa Aranda.

"We've only got just over 3,500 people in this town and this is the first time we've had an incident like this," Poteet Police Chief John Overstreet said.

Overstreet said the incident happened on the night of Feb. 22. They said a 6-month-old boy suffered a deadly injury at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, 28-year-old Jeromy de la Garza.

The child was pronounced dead of blunt force trauma to the head at University Hospital in San Antonio the following night. Police won't release details of the injuries because the case is still under investigation, but de la Garza was arrested on Thursday evening.

De la Garza was arrested and charged with capital murder. He's being held at the Atascosa County Jail, and bail was set at $1 million.

Overstreet said this is the first homicide in Poteet in seven years and may be the first capital murder in the town's history.

Aranda said she's sad to see big crime in the town of Poteet. As a mother to a 1-month-old boy, she said she was especially shaken.

"It's pretty sad what people can do to a baby. This is my first baby, so it's, like, horrifying to me," she said.

Although an arrest has been made, Overstreet said the investigation is ongoing. He said the family waited 10 hours before taking the baby to the hospital.
http://www.ksat.com/news/27109142/detail.html

SBS: Texas:

February 2, 2011

 By JESSICA COOLEY

Hudson Police and Child Protective Services are investigating the suspicious death of a 4-month-old Hudson boy.

On Jan. 28, the baby was in the care of a baby sitter when the baby sitter notified the mother of a health issue with the boy, according to Hudson Police Chief Jeff Burns.

The baby was taken to a local hospital for a possible seizure and later flown to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston with a large amount of blood on his brain, CPS officials said.
The baby, determined to be brain dead, died in Houston Sunday after being taken off life support, CPS officials said. Because the boy suffered bilateral retinal hemorrhages, the case is being investigated as possible shaken baby syndrome, according to information from CPS and Hudson Police.
Burns said in a Wednesday phone interview that the department is currently waiting for official autopsy results from Houston.
“Because the child had diagnosed underlying medical problems, we can’t say foul play is involved until we get the autopsy results back,” Burns said. “Due to the suspicious nature of the death, we also can’t rule out foul play.”
Burns said autopsy results could be back early next week.
Monday, CPS officials removed three other children, ages 4, 3 and 1, from the home, placing them in foster care.
The case remains under investigation, Burns said.
http://lufkindailynews.com/news/local/article_7457f706-2f0c-11e0-b534-001cc4c002e0.html

SBS: Texas: Jose Trevino

Dec 17, 2010 12:03 By Michael Slother

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD)-  authorities arrested 19-year-old Jose Trevino on a charge of injury to a child.
According to the police report, Trevino was helping his girlfriend baby sit back in November when a 6-month-old boy began crying when Trevino's girlfriend was in the shower. In the report, Trevino admitted he was frustrated and says he shook the baby with a ‘back and forth motion.' In his statement to police, Trevino said he knew he shook too hard when the child's eyelids started to close and he stopped breathing.
Lynette Wilson from the Family Guidance and Outreach Center of Lubbock picked up a doll to demonstrate what can happen when a baby is shaken hoping to stop the crying. She says it's the worst mistake you can make. The doll had red lights throughout the baby's head to show where bleeding occurs.
It's called shaken baby syndrome, or SBS. Statistics from the Family Guidance and Outreach Center say 25% of those affected will die; the others can suffer severe brain damage leading to strokes, retardation, or blindness.
Local physician Dr. Laszio Nagy showed us a CT scan of the brain of a shaken baby. Visible white patches from hemorrhages turned to missing portions of the brain after a few months.
Wilson said SBS is the most preventable type of child abuse, and usually starts with a frustrated parent. She said if you can't get the child to stop crying, it may be best to leave the room. "You can exercise, you can go in the bathroom and scream, you can go outside and scream. You must remove yourself from that child," she said.
Statistics from the center also suggest men are responsible for the majority of SBS cases, claiming they may be less familiar with the baby's needs. Dr. Nagy says experience is also a factor. "When parents are young and inexperienced, they are young and don't know what to do," Nagy said.
That's exactly why Wilson hopes parents will combat the problem with education. "If only they knew that you never shake a baby and what can happen to that little brain, I do not believe they would shake their baby."
The Family Guidance and Outreach Center of Lubbock offers classes to help educate parents on shaken baby syndrome and a variety of other topics at no cost.
http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=13689374

SBS: Texas: Jose Herrera

Chris Paschenko : December 16, 2010

LEAGUE CITY — After reviewing evidence that prompted the state to accuse a father of killing his only son, a defense expert testified Wednesday the fractures and bruises occurred after the infant died.
During seven days of testimony, prosecutors and defense attorneys have disagreed whether cardiopulmonary resuscitation could have caused 14 rib and spine fractures, bruising, hemorrhages, abrasions and blood in the boy’s abdomen.
Jose Isaias Herrera, 20, was charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, stemming from the Oct. 27, 2008, death of 6-week-old Jose Herrera Jr.
The boy, called Baby Jose at trial, was found dead, face down in a crib in his parents’ League City town home.Evidence revealed Herrera, who has yet to testify, performed CPR on the child’s body after it was cold and rigor mortis had begun.
Prosecutors called three medical examiners, two from Galveston County and another from Bexar County, who all testified the child was alive when the injuries occurred.
They didn’t all agree about whether the child had been shaken or whether the cause of death was blunt-force trauma.
Dr. Thomas Young, a former medical examiner in Kansas City, Mo., used some of the same evidence presented at trial, autopsy photographs and specimen slides, to form his opinion.
Evidence Of Healing?
The state’s experts testified they found evidence of healing, including in a rib that was broken possibly two weeks before death.
The state also showed the jury photographs of blood around the fractured spine and ribs as evidence of blood flow when the injuries were inflicted.
Young disagreed, saying cardiopulmonary resuscitation caused the fractures and the movement of a small amount of blood behind the skin and in the child’s eyes. This could have been confused with tissue hemorrhage, he said.
“Hemorrhagic lividity is not trauma,” Young said. “This is something that happens after death.”
Young agreed with Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Stephen Pustilnik, that the child didn’t die from shaken baby syndrome.
Galveston County Deputy Medical Examiner Nobby C. Mambo, who did most of the autopsy, told the jury in Judge Lonnie Cox’s 56th District Court in Galveston on Tuesday that he believed the child had been shaken violently.
Blood Settled After Death
Blood in the boy’s eyes also was hemorrhagic lividity — blood settled after death, Young said.
“Due to the effect of gravity on blood and blood cells after death, they settle so much in some areas,” Young said. “Blood vessels are engorged and leak a little bit, then you get these areas that look like hemorrhage.”
In cardiopulmonary resuscitation after death, the oozing of blood is expected, Young said.
Young said he would expected more blood loss had the child been alive when the injuries occurred.
Mambo reported finding about 10 percent of the boy’s blood in the abdomen and nine grams of blood clot.
“If you have injuries sufficient to break blood vessels in the abdomen, yet only a small amount of blood-volume loss, that’s consistent with postmortem and CPR,” Young said.
Young said he would have ruled the child’s death a case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He said he would have listed the death as undetermined.
Bexar County Medical Examiner Randall E. Frost, who testified for the state, said he also would have listed the death as undetermined.
Defendant Had Temper?
Herrera’s mother, Irasena Herrera, testified Wednesday. She was the first defense witnesses called after the state rested late Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutors portrayed the defendant as a hot-tempered man who didn’t believe the baby was his and who didn’t show enough remorse about the baby’s death.
Irasena Herrera testified she and her husband once each had to call police to their home after “discussions” with him.
Irasena Herrera, who came to Texas 15 years ago from Mexico, said she knew her son was devastated by losing his only son. He was quiet, “suffering in silence,” she said.
Herrera was very sad at the funeral, she said.
“There was no consoling him,” Irasena Herrera testified.
Prosecutor Donna Goode asked Herrera about recorded jail conversations with her son.
“You remember saying to your son, ‘Nobody saw you do anything?’” Goode asked. “You were trying to come up with somebody to blame for those injuries?”
No, Herrera said.
Testimony was expected to resume today. Herrera also is expected to testify during the trial, defense attorney Jeth Jones said.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/198282

SBS: Texas: Jose Trevino

 December 16, 2010:  Robin Pyle

Lubbock authorities on Wednesday filed felony charges against a baby sitter’s boyfriend in connection with a severe shaken baby case last month.
A 6-month-old boy on Nov. 5 suffered bleeding between his brain and skull after police say 19-year-old Jose Trevino violently shook the infant while frustrated, according to court documents.
On Wednesday, Lubbock police obtained an arrest warrant for Trevino, charging him with two counts of intentionally and knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a child. One count was causing injury by shaking the infant, the other involved striking the child with a hard object.
Police say Trevino’s girlfriend was watching the infant at their residence when she went to take a shower, leaving her boyfriend and the infant alone together in the living room. The child was sleeping, but woke up fussy while the girlfriend was still in the shower.
Authorities were called just after 9 a.m. to the 5700 block of Second Place after a report of a child not breathing. The infant was rushed to the hospital, and emergency crews were able to revive him en route, according to police reports.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the majority of infants who survive severe shaking will have some form of neurological or mental disability, such as cerebral palsy or mental retardation, which may not be fully apparent before the age of 6.
Shaking infants can cause such severe damage because their fragile brains bounce back and forth inside the skull, which causes bruising, swelling and bleeding.
Lubbock police say Trevino admitted he shook the child because “he was getting frustrated.” The infant was fussy — possibly from teething — and he couldn’t get him to calm down, even after giving him a bottle of milk and giving him medicine.
“Jose stated he repeatedly shook (the infant) with a back and forth motion,” the officer said in his report. “Jose stated he knew he shook him too hard and immediately knew he had hurt him. Jose stated (the infant’s) eyelids started to close and he stopped breathing.”
Medical staff told police the injuries were consistent with child abuse.
A CAT Scan revealed the child suffered “diffused subdural hemorrhaging,” which is bleeding between the brain and skull and often the result of abusive head trauma, the officer said in his report.
When police first interviewed Trevino, he told them the child just stopped breathing and said: “I wasn’t shaking him vigorously, I was just kind of rocking him,” according to court documents.
But Trevino later reportedly told police he “originally lied because he did not want people to think bad about him,” according to court documents.
He also told police he accidentally hit the child’s head with the car seat handle when taking him out of his car seat.
The Avalanche-Journal reached Trevino by phone on Wednesday afternoon, and he said: “I’d rather not comment.”
He also refused to give the name of his attorney, and attorney information wasn’t available in public record for him.
The bail attached to Trevino’s warrant was $100,000.
http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/2010-12-16/baby-sitters-boyfriend-charged-connection-shaken-baby-case

SBS: Texas: Jose Herrera

Chris Paschenko : December 15, 2010

LEAGUE CITY — Although two medical examiners disagree on whether a 6-week-old boy was shaken to death, they agree he was alive when his injuries were inflicted.
Jose Herrera Jr. likely was alive when he suffered 14 rib and spinal fractures; head, stomach and lung bruising; eye trauma; and two abrasions to his back, according to testimony Tuesday from two Galveston County medical examiners.
Jose Isaias Herrera, who turned 20 today, was charged with injury to a child in the Oct. 27, 2008, death of his only son, Jose Herrera Jr. The boy, called Baby Jose at trial, was found cold and face down in his crib at his parents’ League City town home.
During day six of testimony in Judge Lonnie Cox’s 56th District Court in Galveston, Dr. Stephen Pustilnik, chief medical examiner, and Dr. Nobby Mambo, deputy medical examiner, testified Baby Jose died of blunt-force trauma.

Mambo testified someone vigorously shook Baby Jose, leading to his death.
Pustilnik, however, testified he didn’t believe the boy was shaken but rather dropped or thrown against something.
“Holding the child and slamming (him) onto something doesn’t fit the definition of shaken baby syndrome,” Pustilnik said.
The “vigorous shaking” broke the boy’s back, Mambo testified.
Baby Jose didn’t have an injury to his brain, which can be a result of shaken baby syndrome, but it is possible the child died before the body had time to produce a brain injury, Mambo said.
Mambo also testified none of the injuries occurred after the boy’s death.
Mambo ruled the death was caused by blunt-force trauma.
“A child cannot inflict these injuries on itself,” Mambo said. “Somebody must have, and that’s why I ruled it a homicide.”
In the previous testimony, jurors heard Herrera gently shook the lifeless body of Baby Jose before performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a mattress.
Defense attorneys Jeth Jones and Kyle Verret contend that lifesaving attempt caused the child’s injuries. Prosecutors Donna Goode and Kayla Allen disagree.
Evidence suggested one of the child’s 13 ribs fractures was inflicted possibly two weeks before his death.
The boy’s injuries were uncharacteristic in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Pustilnik said.
Pustilnik took the jury on a nearly three-hour lecture, showing medical studies on bones, how they are formed and how they heal after breaking to bolster his claim the injuries occurred before or at the time of the child’s death.
After the state rests its case, possibly today, the defense is expected to call a former medical examiner from Kansas City, Mo., to contest the state’s findings.
Herrera also is expected to testify.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/198054