Opinion ID: 2036183
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: FACTS (Peters)

Text: Concerning the case of People v. Barbara Peters, the facts show that on December 17, 1987, Barbara Peters' son, Bobby, died at the age of 20 months at LaGrange Memorial Hospital. He had been brought there by his mother and Kenneth Jacobsen, her boyfriend for six months. Bobby was not breathing at the time he was taken to the hospital, and efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. An autopsy showed that he died as a result of bilateral subdural hematomas which resulted from blunt head trauma. Peters and Jacobsen were charged in a 19-count indictment with the offenses of first degree murder, aggravated battery to a child, cruelty to a child, and endangering the life or health of a child. Their cases were severed prior to trial. A former baby-sitter, Karen Wagner, testified at trial for the State. She had begun baby-sitting for Bobby four or five times a week in April 1987. She first noticed problems with Bobby's physical condition in July 1987, a month after Peters had begun dating Jacobsen. At that time, she noticed a rash on Bobby which she described as red, raw, dry and it was cracking. She obtained the name of a pediatrician through the child's father, and at his direction used ointment on the rash. Later that month, again while baby-sitting, she noticed a bruise covering Bobby's entire buttocks. Wagner testified she questioned Peters about this, and the latter responded she thought Bobby had fallen at Wagner's home. Wagner testified that Bobby had never bruised himself to that extent any time he had fallen in her home. In early August 1987, Wagner saw small bruises on Bobby's cheeks, chin, and forehead. She testified that Jacobsen told her Bobby had fallen off the ladder of a slide. She did not observe any dirt or blood on the child's clothes at the time. When Wagner told Peters what Jacobsen had said, the defendant did not respond. Later that August, after Jacobsen had brought Bobby to Wagner's house, she noticed four or five bumpy-like welts scattered around the center of his back. In response to Wagner's inquiry concerning the welts, Jacobsen responded that the child had fallen down an elevator shaft. In September 1987, Bobby came to Wagner's house with a split on the inside and outside of his lower lip. Peters told Wagner that Bobby had fallen on the sidewalk. At this point, Jacobsen had moved in with Peters. Jacobsen would look after Bobby during the week, while Wagner looked after the child on the weekends. In October 1987, Peters took Bobby to Wagner's home for a party, dressed in his pajamas. Upon attempting to remove Bobby's diaper, the child's leg stuck to the pajama. After removing the pajama, Wagner saw an oval-shaped burn which measured about two to three inches in diameter running across Bobby's calf. Wagner testified that the skin on Bobby's leg was raw and pussy. When Wagner asked Peters how this had happened, Peters told her the burn was caused from Bobby's clothes rubbing on the back of his leg. Wagner testified that she had never noticed a similar such injury before this. Later in October, in a telephone conversation with Wagner, Peters related that Bobby had to be taken to the hospital for burns to his back and neck. Her explanation for this was that Jacobsen had tripped over Bobby and spilled hot tea over him. Wagner testified that Peters told her they were going to arrest Jacobsen for child abuse and the hospital was going to press charges against him. Wagner saw Bobby the next day and described him as walking stiff. He could not move his head from side to side, and when she removed his shirt, she saw that the burn went from the top of his scalp down his neck and one shoulder, and was very raw, very pussy, [and] his undershirt was stuck to it. Wagner contacted the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) approximately a week later, on October 31, 1987, and told them of Bobby's burns and bruises. The following day, Peters called Wagner concerning the DCFS contact, informing her that she had an appointment for the next day. When Wagner later contacted her about the DCFS appointment, Peters refused to talk to her and cut off all contact between Wagner and Bobby. Wagner did not see the boy again until late November 1987, when she ran into Peters at a bowling alley. Peters allowed Wagner to take Bobby home for several hours, during which time Wagner inspected Bobby but found no fresh injuries. Wagner last saw the child on December 8, 1987, at the bowling alley. When Wagner asked to see Bobby for Christmas, Peters refused, saying Jacobsen did not want either Peters or Bobby to have anything to do with Wagner. Bernadine Peters, Bobby's paternal grandmother, also testified for the State. She testified that she noticed no bruises on Bobby in her single visit with him in August 1987, or with her next visit with him in early September. However, she stated that in late September, while changing his diapers, he was very stiff and frightened, and she observed black and blue marks on Bobby's chest, ankles, and buttocks. She saw many bruises about the size of a finger. And the butt was just almost completely covered    [w]ith black and blue marks. In one other visit with Bobby in November 1987, she did not remember seeing any bruises. Dr. Nancy Jones performed the autopsy on Bobby, and also testified as to the contents of his pediatric records. The parties stipulated to Dr. Jones' education, experience and board certification in the fields of anatomic, clinical, and forensic pathology. Dr. Jones testified that since July 1986, she had conducted 1,500 autopsies and over 200 of them had been performed on children under the age of two. The salient portions of Dr. Jones' testimony show that Bobby was underdeveloped for his age, significantly shorter and underweight. The exterior of the boy's body exhibited a large number of bruises distributed over his head, trunk, and upper and lower extremities. The bruises varied in coloration, extending all along the right and left side of his face, both of his arms, both of his hands, his chest, the tops of his feet, on his back and on his buttocks. Dr. Jones explained that the depth of the bruises can be measured by how far the bruise extends into the subcutaneous fat under the surface of the skin. The deeper the bruise goes into the subcutaneous fat, the greater the force which was used to cause the injury. Also, from the coloration of the bruise, it is possible to determine its age and the approximate time which had elapsed since the injury which resulted in the bruise. The interior examination revealed a large area of hemorrhage, containing 16 grams of clotted blood, under the surface of Bobby's scalp on both the right and left side of Bobby's head. The brain was very swollen, a result of how the brain reacts to injury. There was also hemorrhaging in the abdominal cavity area and two additional hemorrhages in the tongue which were consistent with bite marks. In total, Dr. Jones' internal examination revealed 45 different areas of bruising on Bobby's body. Dr. Jones concluded on the basis of the autopsy that Bobby had died as a result of bilateral subdural hematoma which resulted from blunt head trauma. She concluded that based upon the autopsy, the constellation of injuries, the varying ages of the injuries, and Bobby's pediatrician's records, Bobby's physical condition at the time of autopsy was the direct result of ongoing abuse. She stated that based upon the color of the bruises, some were at least a week old at the time of the boy's death, and that they would definitely have been visible on December 16, the day before Bobby died. Dr. Jones found nothing in Bobby's records to indicate that he had any underlying illnesses or bleeding problems which would substantiate that Bobby was an easy bruiser. She noted that some of the bruises went down into his subcutaneous tissue. Dr. Jones opined that the abuse dated back to approximately June 1987, when Bobby was 15 months of age. She indicated on Bobby's death certificate that the injuries were intentional and not the result of accidental acts. Investigator Baldwin, a detective with the Cook County sheriff's office, testified for the State regarding the conversation he had with Peters following Bobby's death. Peters told Baldwin she had been living with Jacobsen since September 1987, and would routinely leave Bobby in Jacobsen's custody when she worked. She stated she accepted Jacobsen's explanations to her for the bruises and injuries to Bobby in her absence, believing they were never very serious and she did not feel that the injuries warranted taking Bobby to the hospital. Peters explained to Baldwin that she had not taken Bobby to the hospital for his burns because Jacobsen had told her that he had gone to LaGrange Memorial Hospital and had obtained a jar of salve. Baldwin stated he had checked with the hospital and they had no record of this visit. Baldwin stated that Peters told him she had last seen Bobby alive on December 16, 1987. Peters left home at 6:30 p.m. to go drinking with one of her girlfriends, and returned home three hours later. Jacobsen had put Bobby to bed and Peters did not look in on him that night. When Peters awoke on December 17, Jacobsen told her they had to take Bobby to the hospital because Bobby had turned blue. Baldwin stated that when Peters was informed that Bobby's death was the result of a homicide, Peters just shrugged her shoulders and gave him a look as if it did not matter. Peters told Baldwin she had not really wanted the boy. When Baldwin asked her whether she did not really care what happened to Bobby, Peters responded, I guess not. When Baldwin asked her how she thought Bobby died, Peters responded that she thought Jacobsen was responsible for his death. However, Peters did tell Baldwin she loved Bobby and that she would never allow someone to abuse the boy or to deliberately hurt him. Other witnesses for the State testified as follows. Linda Norcutt, the outpatient registrar at LaGrange Memorial Hospital, while working in the emergency room on the morning of December 17, 1987, overheard Peters say to Jacobsen, I told you not to get so angry, I told you not to get so angry, I told [you] this would happen, and that Jacobsen responded, Shush, shush, and go sit down. Susan Siorek, a registered nurse at LaGrange Memorial Hospital, testified as to the severity of Bobby's injuries at the time he was brought into the emergency room. Bobby was very pale, very cold, very thin, and emaciated, unkept and he also was covered with bruises. She found bruises of varying colors, from yellowish-green to red-purplish, around the face and forehead, chest area, up and down both arms, the feet, down along the spinal column and on his buttocks. The testimony of Dr. Carol Haller, an associate pathologist at Illinois Masonic Hospital and consultant for the Cook County medical examiner's office, was stipulated to by the State and defense. Dr. Haller would have testified that she had studied over 300 head injuries in children under the age of two, and, after examining Bobby, would have opined that in order to cause his injury, it would have taken a force equal to that received in a motor vehicle accident, or of being dropped from a height of approximately three stories. She stated that if Bobby's injury was caused by an object coming into contact with his head, it would have been something like a baseball bat, a heavy stick, or a club. In her opinion, the injury was not consistent with Jacobsen's explanation that Bobby had fallen down the stairs onto the sidewalk. Barbara Peters testified that Bobby was not a planned child. She financially supported both Bobby and Jacobsen and worked from 5 p.m. to midnight during the week and bartended on weekends. During the time she was working, Jacobsen watched Bobby. Peters stated she trusted Jacobsen with Bobby and felt Bobby was safe with him. Peters had seen Jacobsen use cocaine once or twice around December 1987. Peters testified she never saw Jacobsen abuse Bobby and she never willfully caused or permitted Jacobsen to abuse Bobby. Peters stated she never saw Jacobsen hit or strike Bobby, nor did Jacobsen ever strike her. She never saw Jacobsen get angry with Bobby. She never saw Jacobsen reprimand Bobby. While Peters knew about the burn on Bobby's back, she accepted Jacobsen's explanation that he had spilled hot tea on Bobby and had taken the child to the emergency room. Also, while she did from time to time notice bruises on the boy, she stated that Bobby was small for his age and clumsy. Since he bruised easily, she was not alarmed when she saw bruises. Peters testified that in November 1987, she saw Jacobsen throw a chunk of ice at Bobby that hit him in the head. Peters told Jacobsen to be careful because Bobby would get whiplash. Peters stated the last time she saw Bobby alive was on December 16, 1987. She testified she was with Bobby all day but never changed his diapers or pajamas. She stated that she had not given Bobby a bath or changed his diapers for three weeks before Bobby died. She only saw Bobby fully dressed. Peters stated that when Bobby was discovered to be blue, neither she nor Jacobsen called an ambulance. Instead, she drove with Bobby and Jacobsen to LaGrange Memorial Hospital. On cross-examination, when shown a photograph of Bobby's bruised face, Peters remembered Bobby's face being bruised, but did not remember seeing that many bruises on his face and the bruises were [n]ot that big. Peters also remembered seeing the bruises on Bobby's hand that were depicted in the photograph, but had accepted Jacobsen's explanation that Bobby had been playing in his room and the crib had fallen on his fingers. When questioned about Bobby's scheduled visits to the pediatrician, Peters stated she canceled Bobby's November 10 visit because she was feeling sick, and she canceled the November 24 visit because her car would not start. Peters testified that August 11, 1987, was the last time she took Bobby to the pediatrician. Peters admitted that she told Detective Baldwin she believed Jacobsen was responsible for Bobby's death, and that she may have been negligent at times in leaving Bobby with Jacobsen.