Attorneys make opening statements in trial of woman accused of poisoning girl

April 8, 2008 - 1:41PM

The poisoning death of a 7-year-old girl more than four years ago was called cold-blooded murder by prosecutors and a tragic accident by the defense during opening statements today in the trial of the woman accused of killing her.

Carolyn Futrell, 37, was charged by the Onslow County Sheriff's Department in May 2004 with first-degree murder in the Aug. 24, 2003, death of Kayla Allen. Futrell was Kayla's legal guardian at the time of the girl's death.

Kayla died of ingesting insecticide, according to toxicology reports.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Maultsby told the jury that Kayla was forced to drink an insecticide and vomited it into her lungs.

"This was no accident, this was murder," he said, adding that experts would testify that the substance Kayla digested the Sunday afternoon she died had a foul taste and pungent odor and no one would have voluntarily swallowed it. "The mechanism of the child's death would have alerted anyone around her."

Wilmington attorney Kevin Peters, Futrell's co-defense lawyer, told the jury that what happened was tragic, but it was not murder.

"Kayla was beautiful and she was loved," Peters said. "Loved by Carolyn. This is not a homicide; this is a terrible accident."

The jury would learn during the trial that neither the local nor state medical examiner determined Kayla's death to be a homicide, Peters said.

Custody of Kayla was given to Futrell by a judge, Peters told the jury, adding that testimony would show Kayla was excited about being adopted.

During pretrial hearings in January, investigators told the court that Kayla died after ingesting the insecticide Atroban from a Dasani water bottle that was found between her bloody pillow and the headboard of her bed.

Futrell told investigators she kept bottles for drinking water on the left side under her kitchen sink, and there was a water bottle with insecticide on the right side, court records state.

The trial continues this afternoon with testimony from emergency workers and detectives that responded to the scene the day Kayla died.

Contact crime reporter Lindell Kay at lkay@freedomenc.com or 910-554-8534. Read Lindell's crime blog, Off the Cuff.

http://www.jdnews.com/news/kayla_55939___article.html/murder_futrell.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor