Court Opinion

ID: 9704835
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:47:51.145255+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:05.739555
License: Public Domain

GARRITY, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion.
I agree that it was improper for the trial judge to allow Ms. Adrian Johnson to relate her opinion that certain of the appellant’s acts fell within the profile of a child abuser. I am convinced, however, that the direct evidence of appellant’s criminal agency was so overwhelming that there is no reasonable possibility that the testimony surrounding the mere “indicators of a child abuser” influenced the verdict. Moreover, assuming it was error to allow Ms. Johnson to *641testify that the appellant told her “that he had been accused by the child’s maternal and paternal grandparents and by his own parents in the past” of having abused the child, in addition to the appellant’s admissions related to others, there was overwhelming direct evidence presented by the victim’s brother that the appellant had, in fact, abused the infant. The errors were harmless.
When two-year-old Matthew Harrison was presented to the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, he was found to be unconscious, in a deep coma induced by a swollen brain, unable to breathe on his own, and exhibiting signs of having been physically and sexually abused. According to Dr. Myron Yaster, the attending physician, Matthew was in a severely critically ill state and in danger of imminent brain death. Dr. Yaster advised the jury,
I think the thing that struck us the most was that not only was he in a coma, but he had signs of physical abuse, and that sort of locks in the diagnosis for us. Although there may be many things that can cause head trauma, or head swelling, there are very few things that will cause signs of being beaten. This child had physical signs of being beaten and he also had signs that he was sexually assaulted.
As to the child’s head injury, Dr. Yaster stated,
When you see this kind of cerebral edema, this kind of brain swelling, it doesn’t happen by simple accidents, it happens when there is a major trauma to the patient ... I am talking about somebody who would be bashed or a very hard physical shaking.
Dr. Ivor Berkowitz, who also treated Matthew at Johns Hopkins, concurred with Dr. Yaster’s opinion and stated that a CAT scan evidenced the presence of cerebral edema, that he had observed bruises on the child’s left and right frontal-temporal area, and that the child’s anus had been injured in such a manner as to be “highly suggestive that the child had been sexually molested.”
*642The victim’s brother, Timothy Harrison, 14 years-of-age, testified that when Matthew locked his teeth on the appellant’s finger, the appellant hit Matthew’s head up against the window ledge of the truck’s door panel three times until the child opened his mouth and started crying. That episode had occurred on a Friday. The following day, according to Timothy, his brother seemed “fine.” On Sunday night, however, Timothy noticed that his brother was acting like he was “kind of sick.” After an episode of diarrhea arid vomiting on Monday afternoon, the child lapsed into a coma. Matthew expired two days later.
The cause of death, according to Dr. Dennis Smyth, Assistant State Medical Examiner, who performed an autopsy on the child, was “swelling of the brain ... [due to] a blunt injury or trauma to the head.” That conclusion was supported by his finding of bruises on the forehead and an extensive hemorrhage area under the scalp. Indeed, his conclusion as to the cause of the brain swelling was consistent with that of Drs. Yaster and Berkowitz. Both doctors explained that the swelling of the brain may have been gradual over a period of several days. Contrary to this evidence, the defense presented the testimony of two doctors who had examined tissue slides and Dr. Smyth’s autopsy report. They denied that it was possible that the child’s death had been caused by the actions of the appellant that had been described in Timothy Harrison’s testimony.
In any event, the factual controversy over the cause of death was for the jury to resolve after weighing the testimony of the medical experts. In the pursuit of this task, I am convinced that there is no “reasonable possibility” that the “profile” opinion of the social worker influenced the jury’s finding of fact as to the cause of death.
Maryland’s statute on child abuse, Md.Ann.Code art. 27, § 35A, is designed to prohibit the infliction of injury to a child as a result of cruel or inhumane or malicious acts, and any sexual abuse of a child regardless of the presence of physical injury.
*643Although the “characteristics” of a child abuser were related to the jury, testimony which tended to “establish” the appellant’s direct involvement in such conduct was spread before the panel when Detective Sgt. Barr related that the appellant admitted having difficulty controlling himself -with children, that perhaps he was too rough, that Matthew had been injured during his disciplining on several occasions, and that the appellant thought he needed help in that area. These admissions by the appellant must be coupled with Timothy’s description as to the appellant’s treatment of his brother, as well as the testimony of the examining physicians and the appellant’s cellmate who related the appellant admitted to him that he had performed a sexual act on the child. In light of such overwhelming evidence as to the appellant’s criminal agency, Ms. Johnson’s “profile” opinion pales to utter insignificance.
From my review of the record, I believe beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no reasonable possibility that the errors relating to Mrs. Johnson’s testimony influenced the jury verdict. I would affirm the judgments.