Opinion ID: 1060382
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Guilt Phase Proof

Text: The proof offered by the State at the guilt phase of this trial established that in June of 1994, twenty-five-year-old William Pierre Torres lived in an apartment in Knoxville with his girlfriend, Jasma Nishee Wilson, and the couple's two children: a daughter, Sharise Elizabeth, and the victim, fifteen-month-old Quintyn Pierre James Wilson. [3] Wilson and the defendant met seven or eight years earlier in New York City. Wilson and the children moved to Knoxville in May of 1993 and lived with her sister, Marion Carter, and her sister's boyfriend, Clayton Martin, Jr. In October of 1993, the defendant joined Wilson and their children, and in May of 1994, Wilson, the defendant, and their children moved into an apartment of their own. Wilson worked a day shift job at a grocery store. The defendant worked a night shift job with a janitorial service. The defendant cared for the children during the day while Wilson worked, and Wilson cared for the children at night while the defendant worked. This arrangement continued until Wilson placed the children in daycare in early June of 1994. However, on the morning of June 29, 1994, Wilson awoke later than normal and did not have time to drop Quintyn off at daycare. Therefore, Wilson left for work at 8:30 a.m. leaving Quintyn, asleep in his crib, in the care of the defendant who had just returned home from his night-shift job. [4] Wilson recalled that the defendant had been unusually tired when he arrived home that morning and had fallen asleep in his clothes. Wilson had cared for Quintyn the previous evening while the defendant worked, and she said Quintyn was fine when she left, that he had no marks or bruises on him except a scar from an insect bite on the back of his knee and a birth mark on his back. Later that day, between 12:15 and 12:30 p.m., Wilson testified that the defendant telephoned her at work, asked her to come home, and told her that Quintyn had fallen from his crib and was not breathing. Wilson rushed home immediately to find Quintyn lying very still on a bed in one of the apartment's bedrooms. When she learned the defendant had not sought medical assistance, Wilson called 911, but she became hysterical and was unable to communicate with the operator. The defendant took the telephone and reported that Quintyn had fallen from his crib and was not breathing. Following the instructions of the 911 operator, the defendant performed CPR on Quintyn, alternately breathing into the child's mouth and compressing his chest. Soon thereafter, the ambulance arrived and transported Quintyn to East Tennessee Baptist Hospital while paramedics continued efforts to resuscitate him. An officer with the Knoxville Police Department transported Wilson and the defendant to the hospital. The officer described Wilson as hysterical and the defendant as calm, but a little bit upset. A nurse working in the emergency room when the couple arrived testified that Wilson was distraught, that she had her head on the chaplain's shoulder, crying softly, while the defendant appeared arrogant and unconcerned, remaining outside in the hall and refusing to give Quintyn's medical history to emergency room personnel. The defendant told medical personnel that the baby had been crying, and he'd gone to fix him something to eat in the next room and while he was in there, that he heard a noise, and he went back and the babythe side of the bed had come loosea pin or screw had come out of the bed, and he'd fallen to the floor. Dr. Todd Mitchell Rice, the physician on duty in the emergency room when the ambulance arrived at approximately 1:10 p.m., testified that Quintyn showed no signs of life, no cardiac activity, no spontaneous breathing, no spontaneous movement of any kind. Efforts to resuscitate the child continued until 1:33 p.m. when he was pronounced dead. While attempting to resuscitate Quintyn, Dr. Rice noted several very suspicious marks on the child's body including a possible cigarette burn on the back of his knee [5] and an injury resembling a bite mark. [6] Dr. Rice also noted several bruises or abrasions, some new and some not so new. The left side of Quintyn's face and scalp were extensively bruised and swollen. These bruises appeared to be the most recent injuries suffered by the victim; but bruises of varying ages were visible on the front of the child's left shoulder, on his upper back, including his left posterior shoulder and his right posterior chest, on his lower back and buttocks, in the area of his right hip and thigh, and in the area of his left groin and thigh. [7] Dr. Rice admitted that some of the discoloration on the child's lower back and buttocks was consistent with a birthmark. [8] Dr. Rice maintained, however, that the other marks on the child's body were bruises and that the bruises on the child's back and chest were consistent with someone grabbing the child and the ends of the fingers actually digging into the ribs of the child . . . as someone was shaking [him]. Dr. Rice also observed retinal hemorrhaging in both of Quintyn's eyes indicative of shaken baby syndrome, a condition occurring when a young child is vigorously and intensely shaken so that blood vessels on the surface of the brain rupture. Based upon his observations and examination, Dr. Rice opined that Quintyn's death was caused by a physical assault, specifically, violent shaking and a severe blow to the left side of his head. According to Dr. Rice, the child's injuries were not consistent with the child merely falling out of bed as the defendant initially reported. Dr. Frances K. Patterson, a pathologist with the University of Tennessee Medical Center, described the findings she made on June 30, 1994, during Quintyn's autopsy. In addition to some older injuries that were either healed or partly healed, Quintyn had a small laceration near his left eye. Multiple recently inflicted bruises were also visible on Quintyn's body: in his scalp, on his cheeks and face, his lower back, buttocks, lower left leg, and right thigh. Bruising on Quintyn's cheek in the shape of a hand print indicated that someone had struck the child very hard. Dr. Patterson, like Dr. Rice, conceded that some of the discoloration on Quintyn's lower back and buttocks could have been birthmarks, and additionally, she noted that some of the bruising on the child's chest likely resulted from the administration of CPR. Regarding circular scarring on Quintyn's arms, legs, and upper back, Dr. Patterson testified that these healed or partially healed marks were about the size of what you might expect a bite to look like, but we weren't, you know, positive. Other smaller healed or partially healed wounds appeared to be scarring from cigarette burns. An internal examination revealed cranial and abdominal hemorrhaging. According to Dr. Patterson, Quintyn had suffered seven recent injuries: three abdominal hemorrhages and four separate injuries to the head, all of which appeared to result from blunt-force trauma consistent with the use of a human hand but not consistent with a fall. Dr. Patterson rejected the notion that CPR caused the head and abdominal injuries. Dr. Patterson opined that the cranial hemorrhaging had been caused by at least two, and probably four, very severe blows to Quintyn's head. Dr. Patterson said Quintyn's abdominal injuries were similar to seat belt injuries sustained by victims of automobile accidents, which involve a great deal of force. Dr. Patterson opined that the abdominal injuries had likely been caused by three separate blows, although she conceded that a single blow could have caused the injuries, if someone with a very large fist hit the child very hard or if someone struck the child with a baseball bat, very, very hard. Dr. Patterson opined that the victim's death resulted from subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages with close head injury to the brain. Knoxville police officers began questioning the defendant about 4:11 p.m. on June 29. In his first statement, the defendant again claimed that Quintyn had fallen out of his crib. According to the defendant, Quintyn awoke around 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The defendant changed his diaper, gave him a bottle, and left him in his crib. While preparing the child's cereal, the defendant heard a rumble, ran into the child's room, and found Quintyn on the floor giving a cry that he never had before. Quintyn screamed, cried, and made unusual breathing noises. Quintyn then became quiet, and the child's body stiffened, relaxed, and turned purple. The defendant carried the child into his daughter's bedroom and placed him on the bed. Quintyn continued to cry for a short time, but then stopped crying and began to breath heavily. Quintyn appeared weak and was making whining noise[s]. Realizing that something was wrong, the defendant called Wilson to come home. According to the defendant, Wilson arrived about ten to fifteen minutes after he telephoned her. Although the defendant initially suggested that he had called 911 while awaiting Wilson's arrival, he later told the police that he had been frightened and panicked and falsely claimed that he had called 911 before Wilson reached home. [9] The defendant adamantly maintained that he did not realize Quintyn had stopped breathing prior to Wilson's arrival at the apartment. The defendant said that he attempted to administer CPR to Quintyn, following the direction of the 911 operator, by alternately breathing into the child's mouth and pushing on his stomach. The defendant denied abusing Quintyn and gave various explanations for the bruises and marks on the child's body. Explaining the bruises, the defendant claimed that his mountain bike had fallen on Quintyn one or two weeks earlier and that Quintyn had fallen from his crib in the past because a screw which fastened the side of the crib to the frame frequently became loose, allowing the crib to fall. Explaining what appeared to be bite marks, the defendant said he and the child often would lightly bite each other while playing. The defendant also admitted that he had shaken his son immediately after the child fell out of his crib to see what was wrong with him, but he denied shaking Quintyn violently or severely. In a second interview beginning at 6:26 p.m., about two hours later, the defendant admitted that Quintyn did not fall from his crib and gave the following statement describing how his son received the injuries that ultimately resulted in his death: He was left with me you know, to take care of him. He was supposed to go to daycare center and I told them that, I told my girl I could handle him you know, because he cries a lot so I told them I could handle him, you know? And then she left him there. She left him with me. And she left. So I slept until about, I don't know what time and he, he got up and he, he woke up you know, crying. He had st in his, doo-doo in his pants so I changed him, gave him his milk and stuff and you know, he kept crying and I kind of losed [sic] it and you know, I shook him and let him know you know, it was alright, that I didn't know that I had harmed him. And you know, I guess when I saw that I had harmed him, I got kind of nervous and stuff like that and tried to do something but you know, I guess it was too late. The defendant admitted that he picked the child up under his arms and shook him about two times . . . front to back, just told him to, just relax and I didn't know I had harmed him or nothing until I seen what had happened. He said that his son was making gestures like he was in pain or something and stopped breathing either after Wilson returned home or a little bit before that. The defendant blamed his failure to call 911 on nervousness, ignorance, and fear of going to jail, stating: I just got nervous, you know? I didn't know what to do . . . I was nervous. All types of things just going through my head. I was going to jail, this that and the other. I didn't know what to do. All I could do was call her and tell her to come home. The defendant explained that Quintyn would not stop crying that day because his mother has him spoiled to death . . . . His mother has him spoiled. [I]f he sees anybody else, he'll start crying and doesn't want to be around nobody else but his mother. . . . The defendant maintained that he did not intend to hurt Quintyn, stating: I didn't mean to do nothing to my child. I didn't mean to hurt him, do nothing wrong to him, you know? I thought if I shook him you know, he'd be quiet and later on you know, while I go and make him his food. I didn't mean to hurt him or nothing. The State offered two other witnesses. Clayton Houston Martin, Jr., the boyfriend of Wilson's sister, testified that he moved Quintyn's baby bed after the child died and that the bed was in good condition, with all the screws in place. Karlene Heck, a registered nurse employed by the Knox County Health Department who examined Quintyn on June 13, 1994, about two weeks prior to his death, testified that her records do not include any reference to injuries on the child. Heck explained that state law mandates that she report any suspicious injuries she observes. Based upon this proof, the jury found the defendant guilty of first degree murder by aggravated child abuse. The trial proceeded to the sentencing phase on the first degree murder conviction.