Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408040079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury convicted Martinez M. Price in July 1992 of the second-degree murder of 18-month-old Deemechan Chanta Peoples, his girlfriend's daughter whom he often baby-sat. Price is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The girl died July 4, 1991, in the Montgomery Regional Hospital emergency room. An autopsy showed the cause of death was a blunt force injury to the abdomen, which led to shock and caused the child to bleed to death.
The battered-child syndrome is a way for prosecutors to introduce evidence showing that the child has suffered repeated injuries that indicate a pattern of abuse rather than accidents, said Peggy Frank, the Montgomery County assistant commonwealth's attorney who prosecuted the case.
Its use in trials has been recognized in several states, including Arizona, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Utah. But until now, that kind of testimony had not been recognized in Virginia.
Frank said the court's ruling is an important victory because prosecutors now will be able to introduce prior abuse to a child as evidence.
"Before, you just couldn't bring up prior incidents of misconduct," Frank said. "It's a way to get in prior incidents of abuse to a child and that's why it's so wonderful, because in the past our hands had been tied."
Price's lawyers, Jimmy Turk and Robbie Jenkins of Radford, had argued that the child's death was an accident and that there was no evidence of Price ever harming the child.
Price testified he accidentally fell while carrying the child on two consecutive days shortly before her death. Hours before the child died, Price testified, he slipped on the child's vomit and fell backward with her.
Frank told the jury that the child's mother had met Price in April 1991 and the injuries began after that. Deemechan Peoples was treated for bruises on her back, a ruptured ear drum, a swollen foot with blisters and a broken leg in the five weeks before her death.
Turk and Jenkins contended her previous injuries were explainable for an active child who recently had learned to walk.
Price's appeal had centered around the testimony of Dr. Morgan Scott, a Pulaski County psychiatrist who testified People's injuries were consistent with battered-child syndrome.
Turk and Jenkins argued that Scott should not have been allowed to testify as an expert witness because he was not familiar with the child, had not interviewed her family or doctors about any propensity toward accidents and had not adequately reviewed her medical records.
Frank said the battered-child syndrome is not reserved for cases involving a child's death. It also can be used in less severe cases of neglect. But when there is no victim to testify, "we're now allowed to have an expert come in and testify about the battered-child syndrome."
Turk, who said he was not surprised by Tuesday's ruling, said that he plans to appeal. Price could request that the full 11-member Court rehear the case instead of the three-judge panel that heard the original arguments.
"I can state with certainty we will be filing an appeal and requesting a writ from the Virginia Supreme Court ... This is an issue which has never been heard or decided by the Virginia Supreme Court," Turk said.
by CNB