SBS: Georgia: Erica Graham charged

May 10, 2011 : Josh Green

 

LAWRENCEVILLE — A tiny body lay in an upstairs bedroom, between a car seat and blue crib, wearing a white onesie and diaper. No blood. No swelling. By all outward indications, it was the accidental and horribly untimely death of a 3-month-old girl named Aubrey.But an autopsy snitched on violence that no one else had mentioned.Exactly who broke the infant’s ribs, femur and caused a fatal hemorrhaging in her brain is the central question in the murder trial of her mother, Erica Graham, 24, which opened Tuesday afternoon in Gwinnett Superior Court.
Aubrey, born premature at 5 pounds in October 2008, lived with her mother and father, Mitchell Sigler, and 1-year-old sister in an apartment they’d recently moved into off Level Creek Road in Sugar Hill.
On the night of Jan. 6, 2009, authorities responded to a 911 call from Graham and found Aubrey dead on arrival. Graham was the only person home at the time, Assistant District Attorney John Warr told a jury of nine men and four women, with an alternate, during opening statements.
“Aubrey suffered a violent end to her life, and it was at the hands of the defendant,” Warr said.
Graham, who wore a flowing, zebra-print dress and reading glasses, listened intently as her defense attorney, Deborah Fluker, pointed the finger at Graham’s boyfriend, who’d had custody of their daughters all day while Graham was at work.
Fluker said police made “erroneous assumptions” about Graham’s guilt and prematurely ruled out Sigler as a suspect. He’d left to visit a friend about 7 p.m. that night.
Both sides agree that Graham told authorities a string of lies about who’d been caring for the kids that day and even who Aubrey’s father was. Those lies, Fluker posited, were meant to cover for Sigler, who was on probation and had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
“All her lies did was cast the spotlight on her,” Fluker told jurors.
Fluker said she’ll call a pediatrician to the witness stand who will counter findings by Gwinnett’s Medical Examiner. The pediatrician has reviewed the autopsy and concluded the baby did not die of Shaken Baby Syndrome, as the state believes, Fluker said.
Other evidence will show Aubrey was abused before her death, including rib fractures that were in “a state of healing” when she died and retinal hemorrhaging that Graham noticed a week prior to her death, Fluker said.
Later Tuesday, a Gwinnett police officer who responded to the scene testified that Graham seemed bizarrely unemotional that night.
Graham is charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false statements and child cruelty.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/localnews/headlines/Trial_begins_in_death_of_3-month-old_121612529.html

SBS: Pennsylvania: Matthew Albert Close pleads guilty

Judy D.J. Ellich : May 9, 2011

 

A 22-year-old Somerset man pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child for incidents involving his infant son.
The baby sustained life-threatening injuries from two incidents in 2009, according to police.
Matthew Albert Close, of Rebecca Street, pleaded guilty just before a jury was to be selected for his trial. The proceeding was scheduled before Judge D. Gregory Geary.
Close’s plea is what is known as an Alford plea. In this plea, he does not admit to committing the offenses. He does acknowledge that if the jury believes the prosecution’s evidence, he would face a harsher sentence, said his defense attorney, Kenneth Sottile of Carrolltown. Close’s co-counsel, Michael Filia of Johnstown, did not return a telephone call for comment.
“It was an extremely difficult decision,” Sottile said. “There have been ongoing discussions (with the prosecution) for some time.”
On Jan. 14, 2009, state police received a complaint from Somerset County Children and Youth Services that the day before a 1-month-old baby had been taken to Somerset Hospital with unexplained injuries, according to court documents. The infant was transported to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where staff immediately suspected the infant was suffering from shaken baby syndrome.
The baby sustained injuries that included broken ribs and leg bones, bruises on his chest and abdomen, and internal bleeding, according to testimony at Close’s preliminary hearing on Jan. 28, 2009. He also suffered brain injuries, according to court documents.
“The baby has lifelong debilitating effects from the injuries,” said Assistant District Attorney Mary Schellhammer, who is prosecutor on the case.
“The baby is doing good for what he has to deal with,” she said.
Close admitted to being the lone caregiver of the infant on two separate occasions, Jan. 5, 2009, and Jan. 13, 2009, that were consistent with the times that the injuries would have occurred, police said.
Moreover, Close was reluctant to provide details. At first he blamed his dog for the injuries to his infant son.
Close told a family member that he placed the baby on the edge of a couch to change him, and while he was in another room fetching clean clothes the child fell, according to an affidavit.
Initially, Close faced two counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and endangering the welfare of a child.
“He entered the plea without hesitation,” Schellhammer said.
President Judge John M. Cascio directed the probation department to provide a full pre-sentence report. The report would include a summary of Close’s background, including any prior record, letters from the victim’s family and any recommendations. The final sentence, however, is up to the presiding county court judge.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 3.
http://www.dailyamerican.com/news/somerset/da-ot-somerset-man-pleads-guilty-to-abusing-baby-20110509,0,5030955.story

SBS: Minnesota: Jeffrey Davis sentenced

PAT PHEIFER  April 1, 2011

Jeffrey A. Davis stood dry-eyed at his sentencing hearing Friday as he listened to prosecutor Juan Hoyos read a letter from the mother of his son, Liam. The baby was just 6 weeks old on March 15, 2010, when Davis caused him permanent brain damage.
The letter from Chloe Shablo called Davis, 33, "an inhuman monster" for turning their healthy, happy baby into "a hollow shell of what he's supposed to be."
Davis of St. Paul had nothing to say before Ramsey County District Judge Salvador Rosas sentenced him to 4 years and 9 months in prison. He pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to one felony count of malicious punishment of a child.
Davis was caring for the boy alone on March 15, 2010, while Shablo, his fiancée, worked. At his plea hearing, defense attorney Ryan Garry told the judge that Liam was fussy, screaming and wasn't sleeping much. Davis told the judge that he was frustrated and exhausted when the baby kept screaming and he shook him for "10 or 15 seconds, tops."
That was a lie, Shablo's letter said. In addition to the injuries Davis inflicted by violently shaking the boy, Liam had two broken legs and three broken ribs. His entire body was swollen more than two times its normal size and he couldn't breathe without a ventilator. Davis didn't call 911 until four hours later, Shablo wrote.
Liam, who is more than a year old now, has visual impairment, can't roll over, can't put any weight on his legs, can't hold his own bottle, the letter said. He takes medication three times a day for seizures but still has them, his mother said.
Liam's maternal grandmother and great-grandmother sobbed from the courtroom benches throughout the hearing. Shablo was not in court; media coverage of the case caused her too much stress, Hoyos said.
Garry, Davis' attorney, argued for a lower sentence Friday. Davis had a difficult childhood, he said, and endured abuse from his father and stepmother. Despite that, he "stayed out of the cross hairs of law enforcement for 33 years," Garry said.
Davis never intended to hurt his son that day and has already endured the worst punishment that he can get -- never being able to see his son again, Garry told the judge.
Rosas, however, showed no sympathy for Davis.
"A lot of people had tough childhoods," Rosas said. "That doesn't mean he had to take that out on the child. There seems to be a minimization of his actions here."
Although Davis had been free on bail, the judge ordered him taken into custody immediately to begin serving his sentence.
Pat Pheifer • 612-741-4992
http://www.startribune.com/local/east/119100499.html