Trial begins in child abuse case

March 05-- Mar. 5--A trial involving a McAlester man accused of breaking several bones in a then 7-week-old infant began Monday afternoon in Pittsburg County District Court.

William Garcia, 21, was charged in June 2018 with felony child abuse by injury after an Oklahoma Department of Health child welfare employee transported a child to OU Children's Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Doctors at the medial center performed an exam and found the child to have seven rib fractures and two healing fractures in the legs, along with a spiral fracture in the arm, an affidavit filed in the case alleged.

The jury, composed of nine men and three women, was sworn in by Pittsburg County District Judge Mike Hogan and read their instructions just before 3 p.m. Monday.

After the jurors were read their instructions, the prosecution team -- comprised of District 18 Assistant District Attorneys Crieg Rittenhouse and Augustus Forster -- read the charge against Garcia and began their opening statements.

Rittenhouse told the jury that last spring "may have been a great spring, but for a little baby, it was a time for terror." The prosecutor said that the baby suffered fractures to his arms, legs, and ribs.

"His own father inflicted these injuries," Rittenhouse said, "and he confessed to those injuries."

The prosecutor finished up by telling the jury there was no proof that Garcia took the blame because he loved the mother of his child.

Garcia's defense team -- comprised of McAlester-based attorneys Brecken Wagner and Blake Lynch -- began their arguments with Lynch giving opening statements.

Lynch began by telling the jury that one of the beautiful things about a trial in this country is that the defendant does not have to prove anything. "The state has that burden," Lynch said before telling the jury that the fact of the child being injured was not disputed.

Lynch then began to play a confession by Garcia that was recorded during an interview with McAlester Police Det. Brant Gamble and an Oklahoma Department of Human Services case worker.

In the recording, Garcia is heard telling multiple stories to Gamble and the DHS case worker, where he said he may have grabbed the child wrong after a diaper change before he stated he patted the baby on the back while it was crying, and when the baby was calm, he placed the baby down.

Gamble then asks Garcia in the recording about the child's ribs and was told by Garcia that while the child was crying "he may have squeezed him a little too much" and that he felt like the worst father ever after it happened.

Garcia then can be heard telling Gamble that after the squeeze, he patted the child's back, fed the child, and laid the child down before stepping away.

"That is the confession the state says they have," Lynch told the jury.

Lynch then told the jury after speaking with investigators, Garcia was left alone in the room where he spent 25 minutes sobbing and praying.

A recording of the child's mother was then played for the jury.

"He is terrified of newborns," the mother told investigators. "But he is good with the kids."

The defense attorney then tells the jury that the child has been to the doctor numerous times and that the jury would hear testimony about a spiral fracture with which the child was diagnosed.

"Mom and dad noticed the child wasn't using the arm and took him to the doctor, where they were sent home with no treatment for a broken arm," Lynch said to the jury.

During a second visit, the broken arm was found and a full exam was ordered "but DHS stepped in and takes the child to a doctor they pay for to find potential child abuse," Lynch said. "They find 10 broken bones."

Lynch then plays for the jury a part of the recording where Gamble tells the couple that the two "wouldn't intentionally injure the child."

"Whatever happened was an accident," Gamble is heard telling the couple on the recording.

The mother then can be heard confessing on the recording that she may have hurt the child while placing the child in and out of the car seat because it was a new car seat she was not used to.

Gamble is then heard telling the mother that he didn't believe her because she "almost started crying," -- which the mother said was her being emotional.

"From my experience, there's something you're thinking of that you might not being telling me," Gamble tells the woman in the recording.

The mother was then left in a room alone for five hours, according to Lynch before investigators came back and told the woman in the recording that "Will had to have done it" and to "stop trying to defend him."

The woman is then heard in the recording telling the DHS caseworker that Garcia was not dangerous, she just "wanted out of the relationship" and the caseworker began telling the woman how to get grants for school and other resources, including being taken to a domestic abuse shelter.

"Even though she did not mention Will was violent," Lynch told the jury.

Lynch then pointed out that early in the recording the DHS worker is heard saying since the case was suspected child abuse, she could not speak to Garcia, "but did anyway."

Lynch closed the defense's opening statement by telling the jury that the broken bones were not being disputed, but the dispute regards who caused the injuries.

Lynch continued to tell the jury that Garcia's confession was "manipulated in a way that it was not a true confession."

"The mother is not on trial nor were charges ever brought," Lynch said. "Because she agreed to cooperate with the state."

If convicted, Garcia faces punishment of up to life in prison, a fine of between $500 and $500,000, or both.

Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com

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