Labastida v. State

931 P.2d 1334 (1996)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Thunder Michael Lightfoot Strawser was born to D, a twenty-four-year-old, first-time mother, and Michael Strawser. D and Strawser cohabited in a small, poorly illuminated, downstairs apartment. All areas of the apartment were within hearing distance of the other areas, the bedroom could not be seen from the kitchen area. Thunder lived for seven weeks. At approximately 3:00 p.m. on January 9, 1993, Thunder stopped breathing, and D frantically called 911. A paramedic observed evidence of injury to the infant despite the dimly-lit environment of the apartment. The paramedic who carried Thunder from the bedroom to improved lighting in the kitchen testified that he felt a 'crackling' associated with injuries suffered by the child. The paramedic observed bites and bruises in various stages of aging on the child's body. Thunder's battered, broken, and bitten little body was taken to Washoe Medical Center, where the child soon died. The coroner testified to seeing bruises on the baby's buttocks, marks on his face, and a 'vivid' bite mark on the baby's foot. There were many abrasions and skin breaks, extensive bruising covering fifty to seventy-five percent of the baby's face and body, bite marks on the baby's face, a massively enlarged chin, and a frenulum tear--at least twenty-four hours old--which was consistent with blunt, generally nonaccidental, trauma to the mouth. There was conspicuous and extensive bruising on the baby's buttocks and injuries to the baby's penis and scrotum. Thunder's skin was puffed out from the chin to the nipples, indicative of air dissecting through the lungs into the surrounding tissues (the cause of the 'crackling' sound heard by the paramedic). There were seventeen bone fractures that were at least a week old, including nearly all of the baby's ribs in the back, a finger, and three fractures of the right leg. At the police station, D appeared upset but was not hysterical. Strawser admitted to some abuse and claimed that he concealed his actions from D by abusing the baby behind closed doors or while she was asleep. He began abusing the infant three weeks prior to his death by shaking him when D was not in the room. He claimed he lied to D about the causes of the baby's bruises and injuries, telling her that the baby had fallen off a bed and off the washing machine. Upon hearing that her baby died, D began to cry and was visibly upset. She told investigators that Thunder cried incessantly and that she had taken him to a pediatrician a few days after his birth and then again two weeks later, believing that the infant had gas. Labastida also consulted a breast-feeding specialist. D claimed that she had only noticed the bruises the last three days of his life and believed that he was just a tender baby, easily subject to bruising. D claimed that the broken bones resulted from the emergency CPR performed before taking the child to the hospital. D claimed she naively trusted Strawser. D admitted to seeing Strawser playfully pinch and bite the baby's skin. She also observed Strawser 'manhandling' or burping Thunder too roughly (hitting the baby's back with a closed fist) on one occasion, and on other occasions, tossing him up in the air roughly. D and Strawser were both charged with one count of murder, one count of child abuse causing substantial bodily harm, and one count of child neglect or endangerment causing substantial bodily harm. P sought the death penalty against Strawser and D. The pathologist testified that a nursing mother, one changing diapers, and one trained in anatomy and physiology would have seen the injuries to the baby's mouth and throat and other external injuries. The pathologist indicated that 'the baby actually died from overwhelming infection due to seepage of contaminated debris into the chest cavity.' When the baby screamed for two hours, the landlady tried to convince D to take the baby to the doctor, but D sternly insisted that the baby only had colic. During this visit, the landlady recalled D staring intensely and very fiercely at Strawser. D never spoke harshly of Strawser to the landlady. D was found guilty of second-degree murder and child neglect. D appealed.