Opinion ID: 1833263
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Buffington's version

Text: ¶ 9. At trial Buffington admitted to spanking her daughter, but only just a tap with her hand that never left a bruise that she noticed. However, in her statement to the sheriff's department, Buffington said she might have hit the child too hard and given her a bruise or two though she did not realize it at the time. At one point Buffington stated that she had been the only one that whupped [sic] the child. Later, in the same statement, she asserted that Friley hit their child as well. When asked why she never called the police or Friley's probation officer when he was abusive to her or the children, Buffington said she was scared of him because he was so aggressive. However, during cross-examination, she said that sometimes when she threatened to call Friley's probation officer, he calmed down. ¶ 10. Buffington asserted that on the night of November 1, 1999, she was awakened by the child's crying. Friley had laid the child across the bed naked and was beating her with a belt. Buffington said she pushed Friley off of their daughter and that when she put the child's clothes on her, she had red marks up and down her legs, on her back, on her buttocks. She was not sure which red marks were made by Friley. The next morning when she was dressing the child, Buffington saw several bruises starting to appear. ¶ 11. Buffington admitted that she had seen bruises on the child prior to this time and that she and Friley have both whupped [sic] the child. She said that she gave the child food and fluid whenever the child asked for them as well as preparing regular meals. However, the child was going through a phase in which she would drink lots of fluids, but not eat very much. Buffington asked her daughter to eat, but could not force her to do so. Rather than attribute the child's hair loss to malnutrition, Buffington contends that Friley shaved the child's head because she had lice.