RECENT TRIAL TIMELINE
- Babysitter witnessed abuse
- Blood matches Haleigh's
- Defense does not cross sister
- Samantha Poutre testifies
This is a 9:10 p.m. update of a story originally posted this afternoon at 12:08.
By BUFFY SPENCER
bspencer@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - Haleigh Poutre, now 14, may never be able to walk or live independently as a result of the injuries she sustained three years ago.
Though she struggles to do simple tasks, the girl has made dramatic progress from the time she was admitted to Franciscan Children's Hospital in Boston, a doctor told jurors Tuesday in the child abuse trial of Jason D. Strickland.
The jury also heard an expert in forensic pediatrics testify that the injuries sustained by Haleigh in 2005 could not have been caused by an accidental fall down a flight of stairs.
Jurors viewed videotapes of a healthy Haleigh at a dance class performance, doing dance moves on a stage and of Haleigh as she is today, struggling to do such things as feed herself and push buttons on a compact disc player.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Judd J. Carhart cautioned jurors several times that they must view the videotape of Haleigh in Franciscan Children's Hospital without emotion, since they are solely to judge Strickland on evidence and not make decisions out of pity for Haleigh.
Strickland's defense lawyer, Alan J. Black, had objected to the playing of the 20-minute videotape of Haleigh in her current situation, saying it would sway the emotions of the jury against his client.
Strickland, 34, formerly of Westfield, faces charges of assault and battery on a child with substantial bodily injury and other charges from events in Westfield on Sept. 10 and 11, 2005, as well as several charges from the summer of 2005.
He is accused, along with his late wife, Holli A. Strickland, of hurting or allowing someone else to hurt his stepdaughter Haleigh Poutre causing severe brain damage. Holli Strickland was dead soon after her arrest in what police have said was a murder-suicide at the hands of her grandmother.
In the silent video from Franciscan Children's Hospital, Haleigh, looking thin with long dark hair, is helped out of bed by two hospital staff after they fasten a body brace around her torso and put casts on her legs.
She is helped into a wheelchair. She is given several containers of food and eats slowly. At one point she holds a plastic container of soft food in her right hand and uses a plastic utensil to eat it with her left hand.
"She has the best use of her left arm. She uses that for almost everything," said Dr. Jeffrey Forman. He said that was true from the time she was admitted. He said she has very little motor control over her right arm.
In the video, Haleigh is shown pointing to letters. Forman said the letters are on a "spelling board," which she uses to spell words.
| Video of Haleigh Poutre shown to jury |
Forman said that it was unfortunate there was no sound on the videotape because people could not see how severely her voice was affected. He said she has difficulty expressing things vocally although she knows what she wants to say. He said her ability to understand is limited.
He said Haleigh has a limited ability to move and spends most of the day in a wheelchair, although she has walked with help of a therapist with the use of a walker on wheels and with other supports.
Watching the videotape in court was Scott R. Chapman, a lawyer for the state Department and Children and Families, formerly the Department of Social Services, which has custody of Haleigh. It was his agency which, in the weeks subsequent to Haleigh's Sept. 11, 2005, hospitalization for brain injuries, requested, based on medical advice that she had no chance of recovery, to have life support measures for Haleigh withheld. The state Supreme Judicial Court agreed, but, before the decision to end life support was implemented, Haleigh began to improve.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick signed a law in July that overhauled the state's child welfare system. He approved a bill that imposes new rules for preventing the abuse of children who have already received some contact with state social workers. The new law was crafted in part in response to Haleigh's case.
The Department of Social Services received at least 12 reports of abuse or neglect about Haleigh between 2001 and 2005 and had been involved with her case since 1998.
Dr. Christine E. Barron, of Hasbro's Children's Hospital Child Protection Program in Providence, R.I. and an expert in forensic pediatrics, began testimony which is reviewing the injuries sustained by Haleigh. Barron is due to continue her testimony on Wednesday.
Assistant District Attorney Laurel H. Brandt began showing on courtroom monitors photographs taken of Haleigh's condition on Sept. 11, 2005. She asked Barron to give her opinion as to how each injury was caused. Barron said some of the injuries were new and some were old, and some she could not determine.
She was shown a picture of a group of wounds on Haleigh's chest, which she said were burns a week old or older. She said the burns were "consistent with" an object being held close to the skin but not tight against it. The burns could have been caused by a curling, soldering or clothing iron or a heat gun, she said.
Barron also testified that Haleigh suffered the serious brain injuries from blunt force trauma which could not have been caused by an accidental fall down a flight of stairs.
Brandt asked Barron's opinion as to a scenario where a child was at the top of a flight of stairs and a "grown-up" pushed the child with such force that the child fell, hitting no steps but falling head first to the floor at the bottom of the steps. In such a scenario, Barron testified, any external force, like a push or a kick, would add significant force to the child's impact at the bottom of the stairs.
Black repeatedly objected to Barron giving her opinions of possible causes of Haleigh's injuries but was repeatedly overruled by Carhart.
With 26 witnesses so far, it is believed the prosecution is nearing the end of its presentation. Carhart has told jurors he expects they will be presented the case for deliberations this week.
In his opening statement, Richard J. Rubin, also a lawyer for Jason D. Strickland, told jurors that Strickland will take the stand and testify that he believed Holli Strickland when she told him that Haleigh was diagnosed and being treated for a mental illness causing self-abuse.
It is not clear if the defense will call, or be allowed to call, doctors and social workers who, according to court records in other procedures, diagnosed Haleigh as self-abusive.