Expert witness: Toddler died of sudden infant death
COEUR d'ALENE — Pediatric forensic pathologist Dr. Janice Ophoven testified for the defense Tuesday, the final witness in the Heather L. Crawford murder trial.
The Minnesota-based doctor faced questioning and cross-examination through a Skype video call screened for jurors on the courtroom's video projector.
Ophoven, who has testified in hundreds of child death cases around the country, said she believes 22-month old Ezra Wilson, who died the evening of Aug. 22, 2014, succumbed to Sudden Unexpected Unexplained Death in Infancy.
"Following a complete investigation and a thorough autopsy, there is no cause for the fatality. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon event in our field," Ophoven said. "People of all ages die suddenly and unexpectedly, and many times we do not have an explanation."
The state of Idaho has its explanation, though, alleging Crawford suffocated Ezra, the child of her ex-boyfriend, Hiram Wilson, in their former Kingston home. The 28-year-old woman is charged with first-degree murder. The trial, moved from Shoshone County to a Kootenai County courtroom because an impartial jury could not be seated, began Jan. 11.
The Spokane County Medical Examiner, who performed the child's autopsy, reported finding dot-like spots on Ezra's skin from burst capillaries on her nose, eyelids and neck, the result of compression to the face or chest.
Crawford, who has three children of her own, claims around midnight she woke up to a cold breeze and open doors before noticing Ezra wasn't in her playpen. When she walked into the bathroom, she claims to have seen the words "murder scumbag daughter" written on the mirror before waking Wilson and then finding the unresponsive child in the home and calling for help.
In reviewing the case, Ophoven, often a witness for the defense in these types of cases, noted the circumstances in the home raised some concerns, but said she could not see any findings of foul play.
She did find the way the child was found a bit peculiar.
"Unusual circumstances where the body was discovered that clearly indicated to me that the body was placed in the bed in a way I would classify as staged or suspicious positioning," Ophoven said.
The doctor ruled there was no conclusive cause of death, giving Shoshone County Prosecuting Attorney Keisha Oxendine an angle in cross-examination.
"Based on your report, you could not rule out suffocation?" Oxendine asked.
"No I could not," Ophoven answered.
"And you could also not rule out smothering, correct?"
"No I could not."
"So it was possible that this child was suffocated?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"So in admitting that suffocation is at least possible, you could have made a determination that the manner of death was homicide, based on those two things, correct?"
"No."
Oxendine then referenced an old case of Ophoven's in which she ruled a homicide, citing among her findings that "it wasn't just a coincidence."
"You leave it to coincidence that the night Ezra is found dead that there's writing on the mirror that says murder?" Oxendine fired.
"No," Ophoven answered.
The prosecution and defense will make their closing arguments today at 9 a.m. before the jury meets to deliberate.