Jorden Grace - Defense presents case to jurors

Defense presents case to jurors

Once again Kim Stevens, who is on trial for allegedly murdering and injuring a child, found herself watching a television with an image of one of her children.

That was part of a full-day of testimony in which the defense presented its case including a psychologist, the prosecution presented rebuttal witnesses including a forensic pathologist and both sides closed. Stevens did not testify in her own defense.

Thursday morning, jurors will return to the 235th District Courtroom to hear closing arguments and begin their deliberations as to whether they believe the evidence shows Stevens killed 2-year-old Jorden Saager.

Monday afternoon, Taylor Stevens, now 11, testified via closed-circuit television she saw her mother step on Jorden.

Defense Attorney Roger White recalled Child Protective Services investigator Dana Huckabee to the stand and introduced into evidence a videotape she took when she interviewed then 6-year-old Taylor Stevens on Jan. 11, 2000. At one point during her testimony, Huckabee began to cry.

The video showed Huckabee sitting on the floor and Taylor sitting on a child-sized sofa as they talked.

During the interview, Taylor brought up Jorden's death, which had occurred on Jan. 4, 2000. She told Huckabee Jorden had been "real sick" and she felt "kinda sad" about her death.

"Oh, she was sick a lot of times when she came over," Taylor told Huckabee. "Her body was messed up."

Huckabee attempted to question Taylor about getting in trouble at home. But, Taylor said she did not get in trouble. Huckabee expressed her surprise by saying "never?" and said her daughter would sometimes get in trouble. Taylor began asking about her.

Taylor also said her older sister Jillian was going to come live with them, but then decided against it.

"Because mommy was getting so mad," the girl said.

When Huckabee asked Taylor what would happen if her younger brother Mason would get in trouble, the then-young girl stayed quiet for several moments before softly saying her mother would spank him.

"That's OK, a lot of people spank," Huckabee reassured the girl.

After watching the video, White asked if it was taken shortly before the children were removed from Stevens, to which Huckabee replied yes.

White then questioned Taylor about statements she reported Lloyd Saager, father of Jorden, said at the hospital. He asked if he said Jorden was their weird child and didn't look like the rest of them, to which she replied yes.

Under cross-examination by Lisa Tanner, an assistant attorney general who is prosecuting the state's case against Stevens, Huckabee said Lloyd Saager was joking when making those comments and though the child looked different than he, his wife and other children, Jorden looked like his twin sister.

Tanner asked Huckabee how the Saagers were emotionally at the hospital.

"There were in agony, traumatized," she said. "Their little girl was dead, and CPS and law enforcement were asking a lot of questions."

In her previous testimony, which Tanner brought up Wednesday, Huckabee said she didn't often have children flat denying getting in trouble.

Dr. Michael Flynn, a psychologist, testified about false memories and Stevens' children's testimony for the defense.

Flynn told jurors during the 1980s, psychologists changed the way they thought about memories: from thinking they were recordings to believing they were malleable.

Because of that shapeability, a person's memory would not be very reliable, he said. Children, he testified, were especially prone to having false memories introduced, which could be done in the way a person asked questions, because they wanted to please adults.

Counselor Leslie Switzer reported in her notes that the Stevens children have secrets, he said.

"She keeps picking and prying about them," he said.

He also said Switzer should have looked at other possible diagnosis for the Stevens children such as anxiety disorders or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Switzer diagnosed the children with post traumatic stress disorder.

Also, he said, at a time when a person should begin therapy after the children tell their secrets, it ends.

Under cross-examination, Tanner asked if he ever saw CPS referral patients. She said if CPS closes out a case, then if the family can't afford it, therapy stops. He agreed with the statement

"Ms. Switzer testified her contract ended," she said.

She also questioned Flynn about implanting memories. She said the Stevens and Saager children did not see each other again after Jorden's death, yet two of Stevens' children and one of the Saager's told the same story involving a bird.

"If they never had contact again this suggests the possibility this is reliable?" Tanner said.

"It suggests the possibility," Flynn replied.

White also called Gainesville Parks Department employee Constance Miller, who formerly worked at the Frank Buck Zoo. She testified to seeing Jorden on Jan. 3, 2000, near the African crown crane exhibit and then again when the child, accompanied by two women, came into the staff-only area.

The smaller woman of the two said her daughter had been bitten by a crane, Miller testified. White asked if the smaller woman (Stevens) seemed concerned about the child's welfare, to which she replied yes. Miller also testified she didn't recall seeing any bruises or cuts on the child.

When Tanner cross-examined her, Miller testified Stevens seemed overly emotional.

"She was on the verge of hysterics," she said. "Well beyond the point of concern and worry."

Miller also agreed Stevens seemed belligerent and rude. She also said she noticed something unusual about the child.

"Normally, when a child comes to the zoo there's a curiosity, a light in the eye," she said. "She was there but she wasn't there per se. She wasn't happy."

White again questioned Miller about her assertion the child looked sad and wondered if it was possible the child was scared.

"This was a different kind of look," she said. "When someone is scared, they're wide-eyed. This child was very solemn."

Jillian Evans, Stevens oldest child, also took the stand to testify for the defense about the few weeks she lived with her mother in Gainesville. At that time Evans was 15 and had not lived with her mother since she was 7 years old.

Evans testified she never saw her mother abuse the Saager children while she was there and didn't see any marks or bruises on them.

She said Jorden and her sister Alyssa would arrive at her mother's house looking unkempt.

"They would come over and look like they had just gotten out of bed," she said.

When questioned by White if Jorden threw up a lot, she replied, "I knew it happened more than one day."

Evans also testified her mother took good care of the Saager children and her own.

Tanner questioned her about leaving Stevens home. Evans said she wanted to go home to be with her friends, but acknowledged her mother had locked her out of the house for a few minutes. She called her father and he drove through the night to pick her up.

Sandra Walker also testified for the defense about hearing someone banging on the Saagers house on the night of Jan. 1, and thought someone either was wanting to get in or get someone out.

Robert Hardin, a security consultant, testified to his interrogation of Yolanda Saager, Jorden's mother, on Jan. 5, 2005.

"Did she say her husband could have done the physical damage and was alone enough to do it?" White asked, to which Hardin replied yes.

During cross-examination, Hardin said the interrogation was not friendly and lasted three to four hours on the evening after her baby had died. He also said she never wavered in her statements that neither she nor her husband hurt Jorden.

As rebuttal witnesses, Tanner again called Robbie Manthei to the stand and Stevens' former landlord testified to her tenant's children being out of control when she kept them during the afternoon and evening Jorden died.

"They threw potpourri. They chewed Ritz crackers and spit them out. They raised up my shirt and called me a bitch," she said.

She also testified to the children's terrified reactions when she attempted to try to calm them down.

"The little girl put a cushion over the little boy and she lay on top of him. She would say 'don't hit me, don't hit me, don't hit me'," she said. "They looked like cowed down little puppies."

Ken Manthei also testified to being called into the house by his wife to help with the children. He said that's when he knew how out of control they were.

"One thing about my wife," he said, "she is excellent with kids."

When he went into the house, he said he said the boy was hiding behind the couch and the little girl begged him not to hurt her brother.

He said he went to the hospital to find Stevens and ask her to pick up her children. He found Stevens sitting in a squad car with a police officer. She got out and told him the baby had died, Ken Manthei said.

"I thought she's got bigger problems then I've got," he said.

Gordon Saager, Lloyd's father, testified to hiring an attorney for his son and telling his son not to cooperate with the police.

As the final witness, Tanner called Dr. Joseph Guileyardo, a forensic pathologist, to testify to his investigation's findings. Guileyardo, who now runs a consulting businesses, formerly worked as the deputy chief medical examiner at Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences and signed off on Jorden's autopsy.

During his autopsy investigation at the request of Tanner, Guileyardo said he went through autopsy, police and medical reports as well as opinions from other experts.

He said in his opinion Jorden's duodenum probably had a small tear that allowed fluid to leak out and cause the infection in her abdomen before a second injury that led to the 2-year-old's death.

"With the intestines totally torn apart and blood vessels hemorrhaging, the child would die quickly after such a devastating injury," he said.

He said it would have happened a few hours before her death and it would be consistent with a child being stomped upon.

He also testified in his opinion the four to five-inch skull fracture on the back of Jorden's skull probably occurred soon before her death because of lack of injury to the brain.

Guileyardo told the jurors all forensic pathology books and literature state a person should be very careful about stating if a child has been abused. Previous testimony raised the possibility of the child being chronically sexually assaulted.

"My opinion is you can't say this is objective evidence of abuse," he said.

When White questioned Guileyardo about Jorden's symptoms the evening before she died, he replied, "I believe the child was infected at that point." He said the infection from a small tear could take several hours up to a day to develop.