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Chiniewicz trial focuses on expert’s testimony
By CRAIG KAPITAN, Eagle Staff Writer
Washington, D.C.’s former chief medical examiner weighed in at the Baby Joseph murder trial Monday, testifying for the defense that Susan Chiniewicz’s son appeared to have been dead at birth.
Jonathan Arden, who also served a stint as the second in command in New York City’s Office of the Medical Examiner, was the last person to testify before both sides rested. Closing arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Chiniewicz — a mother of three other children who has served as an official of The Colony Chamber of Commerce and editor of The Colony Courier-Leader — was arrested in April 2006 in the death of her child, whom investigators named Baby Joseph.
Chiniewicz declined to testify on her own behalf during the trial, but in an interview with Brazos County investigators that was played for jurors last week, she admitted hiding her pregnancy, giving birth in the rest room and placing the baby in the trash. The child was stillborn, and there was nothing she could do to save him, she said.
District Attorney Bill Turner has taken issue with her statement, calling a forensic pathologist and other medical experts who testified that evidence indicated that the child was born alive.
But based on the same evidence, Arden said Monday that he disagreed with the official findings. He described a report by pathologist Patricia Moore as “seriously deficient” because it didn’t note the texture of the baby’s lungs -- an important clue, he said, as to whether the child was born breathing.
“My opinion is that the baby in question was a stillborn,” he told jurors, adding that the baby’s lungs still provided the most concrete indication despite the absence of information on texture. “The single biggest sign of whether there’s been live birth is whether or not there’s breathing.”
He displayed for jurors microscopic photos of the infant’s lungs, pointing to what witnesses for the prosecution said were air pockets indicating the organ had been used to breathe. Arden said jurors were looking at gas bubbles created by bacteria during decomposition.
“It doesn’t look like expanded lungs from breathing,” he said. “It looks decidedly different.”
In cross-examination, however, prosecutors suggested that Arden was misinterpreting the microscopic photos. Prosecutors also disagreed with his findings that fluid found in the baby’s stomach were not indicative of a live birth. He said the fluid probably was a mixture of amniotic fluid and mucus.
Although amniotic fluid could be swallowed by a fetus, it is also possible the substance was a mixture of amniotic fluid and toilet water that was in the toilet bowl where Chiniewicz’s DNA was found, Turner suggested.
But the infant didn’t die as a result of drowning, Arden said, because the lungs weren’t filled with fluid.
Arden did agree with prosecutors that the infant appeared to be full-term -- making it “highly unlikely” that he was conceived during an alleged rape in February, as Chiniewicz told investigators.
The only other person called to testify on behalf of the defense was St. Joseph Regional Health Center administrator Mark Montgomery, a physician who served as an obstetrician for most of his career. It’s often not known what causes stillbirths, he said Monday morning.
Chiniewicz was indicted on a charge of causing Baby Joseph’s death by drowning, leaving the infant unattended or suffocating him. Defense attorney Jim James protested Monday when Turner suggested during cross-examination of Montgomery that Chiniewicz acted criminally by not obtaining prenatal care during her pregnancy.
“They’re trying to set the stage for a conviction on a theory not alleged,” James said.
District Judge J.D. Langley allowed the testimony to continue.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Citizen on Patrol 007 wrote on Nov 15, 2007 8:02 PM:
" Whether this infant was stillborn or not, this mother deserves the very harshest of sentences for her complete disregard for human life and human remains. How does this woman sleep at night?! "
Anna wrote on Nov 16, 2007 7:16 AM:
" What a shame. Baby Joseph--death; Susan out on bond, facing two years in jail.
Why don't y'all just put her in a trash can for two years. Do as she did don't look back---trash is trash right.
Baby Joseph did get a proper funeral thanks to Brazos Co. , TX. To bad Brazos Co. did not give Susan a proper sentence. "
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