Posted Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011
BY DIANNA HUNT
dhunt@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- A former Dallas County medical examiner told jurors Wednesday that traumatic brain injuries suffered by a now-comatose toddler did not cause brain swelling and might not have caused symptoms indicating that she was in medical danger.
Dr. Amy Gruszecki, a forensic pathologist and consultant who has taught at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, testified Wednesday in the trial of a Mansfield mother charged with injury to a child by omission, accused of failing to stop ongoing abuse of her child by a live-in boyfriend.
"It is possible that this child had no major symptoms that alerted anybody," Gruszecki said.
The child, Ahnnakha White, then 2, was eventually taken to an Arlington hospital in cardiac arrest in July 2010, was revived and transferred to a Dallas hospital. She remains in a vegetative state and lives in a nursing home for children in East Texas.
A doctor who treated the child said head trauma likely caused the cardiac arrest, but Gruszecki said other problems, such as a seizure, could have been a factor.
The child's mother, Ryka Telan Hopper, 28, is accused of allowing physical abuse for several months by her live-in boyfriend, Adam Palmer, 28. He is to stand trial on charges of injury to a child and aggravated assault, including aggravated assault with a weapon, and has spent time in state prison for beating a boy in 2003.
Prosecutors Eric Nickols and Kelly Meador say Hopper should have fled the home with the toddler, called Annie, and her then-5-year-old sister, or sought help at a nearby fire station. Nickols told jurors that Hopper was more interested in keeping her boyfriend than in protecting her children.
Calling for help
Defense attorneys Brett Boone and Brad Shaw presented witnesses Wednesday who testified that Hopper was a good mother who took care of her children but may have been gullible.
Palmer had convinced those around him that he was a firefighter with medical training -- sometimes he presented himself as an emergency medical technician -- and may have convinced Hopper that her children did not need medical treatment, according to testimony.
"She was always gentle in her actions to her children," testified Cynthia Cates of Houston, whose son lived with Hopper in 2008 and 2009.
"She was a very good mother," Cates testified. "I did not think that she was that smart. She was timid. She just did not seem to have a good grasp on things."
Several witnesses also said that Hopper had asked them for help leaving the Mansfield home where she lived with Palmer but that she would later change her mind with Palmer present.
Two older sisters testified that they drove for five hours to pick her up but couldn't find her and couldn't reach her by phone; they eventually left.
"We didn't know if it was serious enough to call police," sister Tia Miller said.
Witnesses, including her sisters, also acknowledged under cross-examination that Hopper has lied and often elaborates on events, sometimes to her own detriment.
Concerns for the child
Earlier in the day, a former cellmate of Hopper's in the Tarrant County Jail testified that Hopper told her that she had seen Palmer pick up Annie by her feet and slam her into the television and saw him shaking her. Hopper said she couldn't take any action because she'd been drugged, the woman testified.
"Eventually, none of the stories made sense," Melissa Rivera, 27, testified. "I spent more nights crying about the little girl than she did."
Rivera, a registered sex offender whose case did not involve young children, reached a plea deal with prosecutors to receive a two-year prison sentence after her probation was revoked. But Rivera said the deal had nothing to do with her voluntary testimony.
"I took the stand to defend this little girl, who no longer has a voice," she said. "They could give me the maximum right now, and I'd still be here testifying."
An investigator for Child Protective Services also testified that Hopper seemed more worried about herself than about her child.
During a visit to the hospital, Hopper didn't apologize or tell Annie that she loved her, CPS investigator Sky Gaeta testified. Instead, she quietly told the child that she'd continue to be hurt if she lived, Gaeta said.
"She told Annie it was going to be up to her whether she stayed or whether she went," Gaeta testified, "but if she stayed, she was going to continue to get 'owies' and it would be too hard on everyone else."
Gaeta said she investigated the case for CPS and took Hopper to supervised visits while Annie was in the hospital. Hopper's older child was eventually placed with relatives.
Testimony is to continue today in 213th state District Court before visiting Judge Phillip Vick.
Dianna Hunt, 817-390-7084
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