State v. Martin

66 So. 3d 608, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 32, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 707, 2011 WL 2135477
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided June 1, 2011·No. No. 11-32·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

SAUNDERS, Judge.

On January 30, 2007, the Vernon Parish Grand Jury indicted Defendant, Ron Stewart Martin, with one count of second degree murder. Prior to trial, Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and moved to proceed via bench trial. Following trial on the merits, the trial court found Defendant guilty of manslaughter, in violation of La.R.S. 14:31.

Defendant now appeals his conviction.1 We affirm.

FACTS:

On November 25, 2006, Gladys Martin, a ten-week old infant, sustained injuries that caused her mother, Sheila Newhouse, to transport her to Beauregard Hospital. The doctors at Beauregard Hospital examined Gladys and eventually informed the [611]*611family that they needed to medi-vac her to LSU at Shreveport.

On November 28, 2006, the medical staff at the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport determined that Gladys’s prognosis was fatal. At that point, Defendant was first interviewed by Vernon Parish detectives. In that interview, Defendant claimed that Gladys was in the care of Sheila when the injuries occurred. This fact was corroborated by Sheila.

After the family obtained a second opinion, life support was removed. Thereafter, an autopsy was performed on November 30, 2006, seeking the nature, extent, and possible cause of the Gladys’ injury and eventual death. Based on the information obtained through the autopsy and developed during the course of the investigation, Defendant was interviewed a second time.

The first portion of Defendant’s second interview was consistent with the information he relayed in the first interview. Defendant maintained that Sheila had dropped Gladys while giving her a bath; however, Defendant changed his story before the end of the interview. Defendant then said that it was he who had dropped the infant. Defendant explained that he and Sheila had originally stated it had been Sheila because he was scared he would get into trouble with his being on parole.

Defendant professed that the baby slipped out of his hands during a bath because she was slippery from the soap. When she fell, her head hit the side of the bathtub. Defendant said he picked up Gladys after she fell, took her into the bedroom, and called Sheila. Defendant also stated that he had consumed a six-pack of alcoholic beverages that day. Defendant agreed that the baby’s crying frustrated him, but it was not enough to make him intentionally hurt the infant.

Defendant was eventually arrested and charged with second degree murder of Gladys. At trial, several witnesses testified, including Dr. James Traylor, an expert in the field of forensic pathology. Dr. Traylor autopsied Gladys Martin in late 2006. Prior to starting his examination, Dr. Traylor had been informed that Gladys had been dropped in a bathtub. Dr. Tray-lor’s examination revealed that Gladys’ soft spot was bulging, which indicated swelling of the brain. There was a large linear skull fracture, about seven centimeters long, running backwards from behind the right ear. The fracture was initially obscured by the soft tissue hemorrhage caused by the bleeding associated with the skull fracture. After the tissue was removed, Dr. Traylor discovered the impact point just behind the right ear. It was one to one and a half centimeters in diameter, which is a little smaller than a dime. In addition, to the subdural hemorrhage, there was also a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which means there |swas blood located between the brain and the membrane covering it. The brain, itself, was swollen. Therefore, the autopsy showed that the cause of death was “blunt force injury to the head resulting in a linear skull fracture with all the other associated things.”

Dr. Traylor explained that, in falls, the brain is injured at the site of the impact as well as on the opposite side from the recoil caused by the impact. Though a baby’s brain slides around more easily because it is not fixed within the skull like an adult’s brain, there was no indication of a recoil injury in the instant case. Therefore, the evidence in Gladys’ autopsy was inconsistent with a fall. Further, according to Dr. Traylor, Gladys’ linear skull fracture could not have been the result of her being dropped, even from chest height.

[612]*612Dr. Traylor explained that, at the time of the autopsy, he concluded that the infant’s death was caused by homicide. The death certificate, prepared by the coroner after reviewing Dr. Traylor’s autopsy report, reflected Dr. Traylor’s findings.

On cross-examination, Dr. Traylor explained that the surfaces of a porcelain tub would not have caused injuries consistent with those discovered during the autopsy because the injuries were caused by an object that had a point. However, Dr. Traylor did state that it was possible that the injury could have been caused by the baby sling shown in the bathtub in one of the photographs taken by detectives if the point of impact was a corner where pieces of the metal frame joined.

Dr. Traylor asserted that he ran gene testing on Gladys to make sure she did not suffer from osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease. The results were negative for that disorder, but there was still a one percent chance that she had the disorder without it showing up in the test results. Dr. Traylor ^acknowledged that there was an ongoing debate in the medical field concerning pediatric head injuries.

On redirect examination, Dr. Traylor explained that the articles presented to him for discussion by the defense address the medical community’s tendency to assume that all traumatic brain injuries in children were inflicted. The articles stress that some of those injuries could have been accidental. Diagnoses, causal determinations, and autopsy findings are all somewhat dependent on the history provided to the doctors. In testimony initially proffered but later accepted into evidence, Dr. Traylor examined the bath seat and explained that there was arguably one area on the item that could have caused the injury; however, even dropping the infant onto it from a height of five feet would not produce the force required to inflict Gladys’ skull injury.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1:

Defendant claims that the verdict is based on insufficient evidence where the State did not establish the cause of death. According to Defendant, the State merely relied on its evidence to suggest that the father was not truthful about how the accidental death occurred, without providing any evidence of what might have actually happened. Defendant also suggests that the State complained that the father did not go to the hospital enough during the baby’s treatment and relied on other innocuous facts as evidence that he did not love the child. None of these facts proved any conduct of Defendant which could have caused the baby’s death.

Further, the defense contends that the State’s expert was not credible and that the jury should have given greater weight to the evidence presented by the defense | ^showing the expert’s opinion was not reliable. Defendant complains that, ultimately, he was only convicted because the State showed he was a bad father.

The State responds that credibility determinations are within the purview of the finder of fact. Thus, the trial court, as the factfinder in the instant case, found the State’s witnesses to be credible after observing the witnesses, hearing the testimony, and inspecting the evidence presented at trial.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Martin, 66 So. 3d 608, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 32, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 707, 2011 WL 2135477 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

66 So. 3d 608 (State v. Martin) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State Of Louisiana v. Donovan Darville
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2021
State v. Julien
139 So. 3d 1152 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State of Louisiana v. Harold Lee Julien, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014
State v. Billingsley
123 So. 3d 336 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)
State of Louisiana v. Kenneth G. Billingsley
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013
State of Louisiana v. M S
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012
State v. Arvie
73 So. 3d 516 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)