Father denies shaking baby, claims he falsely confessed

May 1—Hunter Kelley told a jury Wednesday that he never shook his 2-month-old daughter Amelia and that he only told police he did because they made him think he must have and he "didn't want to be seen as a monster."

The 25-year-old Carthage man took the witness stand in his own defense on the third day of his trial in Jasper County Circuit Court. Kelley faces two counts of felony child abuse and a single count of child endangerment in the trial expected to proceed to jury deliberation Thursday.

"Do you remember shaking Amelia?' defense attorney Jacqueline Jimenez asked Kelley of the alleged abuse four years ago that left Amelia confined to a bed and special chair and likely not to live past the age of 5.

"No," Kelley said.

"Did you shake Amelia?"

"No."

He said the way two detectives kept accusing him of lying and claiming there was medical evidence to support doctors' diagnosis of Amelia's condition as nonaccidental head trauma eventually convinced him that he must have done something wrong.

Prosecutors had played a tape in court on Tuesday of the detectives' interview of Kelley at Mercy Hospital Springfield, where the girl was taken in critical condition on Sept. 12, 2020.

In the interview, Kelley initially denied having done anything to harm his daughter, but about 40 minutes into their questioning, he broke down and tearfully admitted: "I lost my temper and I shook her."

Medical testimony

The defense called four expert witnesses Tuesday and Wednesday — not only challenging the validity of the abuse diagnosis but also pointing out to jurors how interrogation techniques the detectives employed with Kelley can, and often enough do, elicit false confessions.

Dr. David Ayoub, a diagnostic radiologist, testified Tuesday that in his review of the baby's medical records and X-rays, he could see no injury to her neck or spine, a common finding in the type of injuries producing brain bleeds.

He said a single rib fracture detected radiologically upon her arrival at the hospital was seven to 11 weeks old and could even have been suffered at birth. Ayoub said it is rare to find just a single rib fracture in infant abuse cases because of how small a baby's ribs are and the likelihood of adult hands encompassing more than one rib when holding or squeezing them.

Dr. Dale Vaslow, a retired neuroradiologist, testified that he believes Amelia suffered "a venous stroke" caused by clotting in veins interrupting the flow of oxygen to her brain. The doctors who diagnosed nonaccidental head trauma apparently either missed or ignored the clots Vaslow said he found in the ventricles of the girl's brain in his review of her CAT scans.

"If you don't know where to look for them, you're not going to find them," Vaslow said.

He said such clots are more common in a child than an adult and at birth or in infancy than in older children. Amelia had chronic subdural hemorrhages on both sides of her head, he said, adding that about 40% of children develop such hemorrhages. Most disappear, but some can become chronic, he said.

"It predisposes a child to develop a venous stroke," Vaslow told the court.

Dr. Roland Auer, a neuropathologist and scientist from Canada, testified that the theory of shaken baby syndrome, which emerged in the 1970s and today is termed nonaccidental head trauma, infers that the cause for unexplained bleeding on the brain can be "divined" as child abuse without clear evidence. He said it's a circular argument that's "defining abuse without a mechanism."

"It's 'shaking' because it's 'bleeding,' and it's 'bleeding' because it's 'shaking,'" Auer said.

He said an episode of unconsciousness and cessation of breathing that the defendant reported witnessing in Amelia 10 days before the event that landed her in the hospital was most likely "a near-miss SIDS" and possibly a harbinger of what was to come.

He also said her bloodwork at the hospital indicated an infection in her lungs known as rhinovirus pneumonia. Evidence of that viral infection remained in her bloodwork conducted in subsequent months, he said. The infection, her thin blood and the effect of epinephrine on the permeability of her blood vessels may have combined to cause "atraumatic bleeding," which can include the retinal hemorrhaging noted by her doctors, he told the court.

"I think major medical illness is being ignored here," Auer testified.

Interrogation

Dr. Lawrence White, a professor emeritus in psychology and the last expert called by the defense prior to the defendant taking the witness stand, testified how a variety of factors — such as lack of sleep, anxiety and inexperience in speaking with police — can render some people more vulnerable than others to making a false confession.

White said that when police employ what's known as the Reid interrogation technique by isolating a suspect, confronting them with "evidence" of their guilt, accusing them of lying and ignoring their claims of innocence, they can overstep their goal of getting to the truth and instead elicit a false confession.

Using lies or fabricated evidence of guilt, using leading questions designed to support a preconceived bias toward the suspect, and downplaying the seriousness of the crime to get them to believe they may get more favorable consideration by making an admission all raise the risk of a false confession, White said.

"I was scared," Kelley told jurors. "I was wondering why they didn't believe what I told them."

He said the police made him believe that if he did not tell them how Amelia suffered the unexplained bleeding in her brain, she might not receive the medical care she needed.

"They told me it was going to blow up, and I was either going to be a father who got frustrated or a monster," he said.

His testimony differed from that of the girl's mother. Kelley said he never sent any text messages to her regarding Amelia's episode 10 days before the Sept. 12 event. He said he does not recall telling her when he called her about it that he performed CPR on Amelia as the mother testified that he had.

Assistant Prosecutor Scott Watson asked Kelley on cross-examination why, when his mother called him as a detective was driving him back to Carthage following his arrest, that he would tell her he shook his baby. Kelley denied ever telling the officer that.

Watson pressed him on why he would confess to having lost his temper and shook his baby just because police framed his options as either being perceived as a father who lost his cool or a monster.

"Why choose either one of those two if you didn't do it?" Watson asked.

"Because I didn't want anyone to believe I was a monster," Kelley replied.