Stevens' children, husband testify

By JENNIFER SICKING,
Register Staff Writer

Kim Stevens leaned forward in her chair staring at the television screen in the courtroom as one of her children appeared on screen.

She would later dab at tears with a tissue as two of her children testified against her Monday afternoon, including her daughter who said her mother stepped on a child.

Stevens has been accused of injuring and murdering 2-year-old Jorden Saager. Saager died on Jan 4, 2000, from multiple blunt force injuries, in which her stomach was separated from her intestines and she received a four-inch skull fracture.

Monday morning, although the courthouse was closed for Memorial Day, the trial continued with a hearing on whether to allow the testimony of two of Stevens' children via closed-circuit television, which Visiting Judge Jerry Woodlock allowed.

Monday afternoon, the jury returned to the courtroom and its members heard from 10-year-old Mason and 11-year-old Taylor Stevens, who live in New Braunfels with their father, John Stevens.

Before each child testified from a separate courtroom, Woodlock asked them if they knew the difference between a lie and a truth. He asked them what color of coat he had on, which they answered gray. He then asked if he told them it was black would that be a truth or a lie, to which they answered a lie.

Mason took the stand first and under questioning by Lisa Tanner, who is prosecuting the case for the state, said not seeing his mother for a long time made him happy and sad. He said he also remembered his mother babysitting a younger girl and a particular incident at the zoo.

"Kim told the little girl to put her hand in the ostrich cage and the ostrich bit her," he said. He then added his mother told the little girl's mother the child put her finger in the cage and got hurt.

He said it made him sad his mother told a lie.

"I don't like to see anyone get hurt," he said.

Roger White, who is defending Stevens, asked Mason if he if really remembered that happening or just thinks it happened.

"I really remember that," he said.

Under questioning by both attorneys, he said he didn't remember anything else that happened to the girl, but he was told to tell the truth by Tanner during a previous meeting at the hotel on Sunday.

When Taylor took the stand after her brother she also said she was happy not to see her mother. She said she remembered her mother babysitting a young girl named Jorden and that she died around Christmas.

Taylor also said she remembered going to the zoo and her mother telling Jorden to stick her hand in the cage and the ostrich bit her.

"It was a mean thing," Taylor said.

She then testified to seeing her mother abuse Jorden.

"Jorden was watching TV, laying on her back, and she stepped on her stomach for no reason," Taylor said.

She also said her mother stepped on the 2-year-old on purpose and that it wasn't a nice thing to do. It's something, she testified, she tries to forget.

Under cross-examination by White, Taylor said she remembered the zoo incident happening close to when Jorden died, later saying she thought they visited the zoo during the summer.

She also described an ostrich for White and agreed she clearly remembered an ostrich pecking Jorden.

When White asked Taylor if when she met with a counselor she was repeatedly asked about her mother, to which she replied yes.

Later, Mason and Taylor's counselor, Leslie Switzer testified to the children talking about their mother and being fearful of her, as well as what happened to Jorden.

Woodlock overruled White's objections to her testimony about play therapy and what the children said in therapy.

Switzer said her job is not to investigate what happened, but to identify symptoms the children may have and help them find relief. Child Protective Services (CPS) referred Mason and Taylor to the clinic where Switzer works in San Antonio.

In the beginning when seeing the children, Switzer said she didn't know their background and it was only later in the sessions did she learn a child had died.

When she first saw the children, Switzer testified they were biting their fingernails, wetting their beds, having nightmares and dealing with feelings of hopelessness and abandonment. From that, she said she diagnosed them with having post traumatic stress disorder.

They also talked about secrets, but said they couldn't tell because they would get in trouble with their mother. It was only after Stevens gave up her rights to the children and they were reassured they would no longer see their mother, they began to tell their secrets, according to Switzer.

After the children received a photo of the house where they were staying with their paternal grandmother, Switzer said CPS recommended the children's visits with their mother be terminated, with which she agreed. She said she was present when their father told them of the decision.

"They had a need for reassurance that it would really happen and their dad would protect them," she said.

In the play therapy, where children can draw or act out scenarios that they suggest, Switzer said Taylor would act out stomping on a life-size doll and kicking it in the head.

"She would say this is what her mother did," Switzer testified.

Tanner pulled out a life-size child doll out of the box and asked Switzer to demonstrate what Taylor would do. Switzer said she couldn't remember if Taylor put the doll on its stomach or back, but then she stomped on it and kicked it.

Under cross-examination, White asked if some experts contend play therapy could create false memories, to which Switzer replied she wasn't aware of it. Also when White questioned Switzer about the photos, she said she didn't know what the children's home looked like and had not seen it.

She also said she had been seeing the children for eight months before Taylor acted out the stomping episode.

Switzer also said she did not know how the child died that the children talked about and she had not seen the autopsy results.

Also, during Switzer's testimony she apologized for being distracted but said it was because of an audience member, which caused Woodlock and Cooke County Deputy Bill Linnell to keep a stern eye upon the audience members.

John Stevens, the father of Taylor and Mason, also took the stand Monday afternoon. He said he was married to Kim Stevens from 1993 to 1999 and they had three children together.

After he and Kim Stevens divorced, he said he would spend his days off in Gainesville to be with his children. He was there on New Year's Eve 1999 and remembered an intoxicated Lloyd Saager arriving to pick up his children between 3 and 4 a.m. on New Year's morning.

He said he also recalled Kim Stevens taking Jorden Saager to the bathroom that night because she was vomiting and coughing a little.

The next time he came to Gainesville, he said was the result of a call from Kim Stevens saying Jorden Saager had died.

"She told me the father was in jail. She told me the father would be let out to attend the funeral, which I thought was unusual," he said.

He also testified she told him the Saagers had been investigated in the past by child protection agencies. He said he was shocked when he later saw Lloyd Saager at a custody hearing.

In previous testimony, witnesses have testified the Saagers had never previously been investigated and Lloyd Saager was never arrested for the death of his daughter.

Under questioning by White, John Stevens said he never saw his ex-wife abuse the children physically, nor did he notice any bruising on Jorden.

Tanner then asked if John Stevens saw any other kind of abuse.

"She was a verbal abuser of me and the children," he said. "I don't remember a specific incident, but verbal abuse was the norm."

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