Child abuse investigations are emotional, take time

When authorities revealed – after the deaths of five people last weekend – that suspect Martin Martinez was believed to be responsible for the October death of a little boy, the question swiftly arose: Why hadn’t police arrested him sooner?

The answer, authorities say, is simple, though the reasons are complicated: They couldn’t.

Child abuse cases, particularly those in which the victim dies, are difficult and complex. The family involved might tell investigators it was an accident, but it really isn’t supported by the facts. There may not be any external signs of trauma. That’s why forensic evidence is crucial in determining the cause of death, Sheriff Adam Christianson said.

“Getting that work done is … a very methodical and tedious process,” the sheriff said. “It takes time, and that’s really what people need to remember.”

Martinez pleaded not guilty to the October 2014 death of Christopher Ripley, 2. While he is charged only in that case, Martinez, 30, also is suspected in the July 18 deaths of Christopher’s mother, Dr. Amanda Crews, 38; her two children, 6-year-old Elizabeth and 6-month-old Rachael; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and a 5-year-old girl believed to be Martinez’s niece. Authorities have not released how they died. Two days prior to the deaths, Modesto police detectives received verbal notification that Chrisopher’s death was a homicide caused by injuries consistent with the boy’s head hitting the tile floor as a result of abuse. But that finding is only part of the process.

Christianson said you can’t take away someone’s civil liberties without probable cause. He said the system is designed to protect people. Not only to prove a crime was committed, but also to exonerate a suspect if he hasn’t. And to gather either incriminating or exonerating evidence takes time.

“It’s not like television,” Christianson said. “It’s not ‘CSI.’ We cannot get DNA results in less than an hour minus four commercial breaks.”

Christianson said investigators work methodically, often with the help of experts, to deliver a prosecutable case to the district attorney. Once the case goes to court, the investigation isn’t over. While their theories can be vastly different, prosecutors and defense attorneys are looking to answer the same question: What happened to this child?

While the case against Martinez is pending, attorneys with experience in similar cases spoke to The Modesto Bee in general terms about child abuse cases and what goes into investigating, prosecuting and defending these types of allegations.

“Everyone has a protective feeling toward children,” said Deputy Public Defender Greg Spiering, who has defended a variety of clients accused of abusing children. “Even when it’s an accident, there’s a moral responsibility if not a legal responsibility.”

Investigating allegations of abuse is a painstaking process for both sides, especially when the child is dead and the only other person around when the fatal injuries occurred is the defendant. That’s what happened in the case of Martinez, who was home alone with Christopher when the boy suffered a head injury that led to his death two days later, authorities say.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys look at the child’s injuries, examine medical records, speak to those with access to the child and rely on reports from qualified experts examining the case.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees, who prosecutes crimes against children, still remembers the first child autopsy she had to observe in the death of a little girl. “I still remember the tiny painted nails and the curly hair,” the prosecutor said.

Kirk McAllister, a prominent Modesto defense attorney with a long career that includes more than 10 years as a prosecutor, also remembers the first child autopsy he saw.

“The autopsies are worse than other cases, because it’s a child,” McAllister said. “It’s just something that nobody should ever have to see.”

The investigations from both sides typically start with the child’s injuries. Investigators examine bruises, blood loss, fractures – all in an effort to determine the cause and manner of death, also referred to as the “mechanism” of death.

Prosecutors look to child abuse experts, such as pediatricians trained and experienced in handling suspected child abuse cases. Rees said these experts have the ability to differentiate common, accidental child injuries from those that appear suspicious and similar to injuries suffered by other children proved to be victims of abuse.

For instance, a child’s burn from a curling iron: Rees said the expert has to determine whether that burn appears to be accidental or intentional.

While prosecutors will usually start their investigation when the suspected abuse is reported, defense attorneys typically start their investigations once an arrest has been made. McAllister said the defense has to start from scratch; it cannot rely on information gathered in the prosecution’s investigation.

Defense attorneys will hire their own forensic pathologists familiar with child abuse cases to review the autopsy report, examine the child’s medical records and look at photographs of the injuries. McAllister said gathering and examining that information, along with producing their own findings, can take at least several months. The defense investigation can delay the start of a trial.

Rees said the prosecution’s case can also take up a lot of time. Prosecutors have to obtain medical records or speak to school officials or day care providers, information that is not always easily obtained. Privacy and liability issues can stall the investigation.

“We can’t necessarily just walk in there and say ‘Hey, tell us about Jane Doe,’” the prosecutor said.

That type of information can be crucial as investigators try to determine whether any pre-existing medical condition could have caused the child’s death. Speaking to school officials or day care providers helps investigators learn if there were any previous signs of abuse. The investigators also want to know if the child ever exhibited visible injuries or behavior typical of abuse victims.

The prosecutor said they will also run tests on the deceased child’s body to determine whether there were any unknown genetic conditions that could have caused the death. All this information-gathering takes time, and it’s investigative work usually done before an arrest is made.

Before charges are filed, Rees said, prosecutors have the ethical standard of having an expectation that they can secure a conviction based on evidence that goes beyond a reasonable doubt.

Without a confession supported by the evidence, it can be difficult to understand what caused a child’s death when nobody other than the defendant was around, Spiering said.

That’s why defense attorneys will hire a biomechanical engineer to look at the physics involved. Spiering hired such an expert while defending Maria Elena Torres, who was accused of beating to death 18-month-old Alexandra Medina-Cisneros. Torres was baby-sitting the girl when she suffered her fatal injuries. The baby sitter told investigators she momentarily lost sight of the child, who fell down a flight of concrete stairs.

John Gardiner, the biomechanical engineer, testified that the child’s injuries could have been caused by a fall down concrete stairs, because pediatric abdominal organs are more vulnerable than adult organs.

The toddler’s injuries included the tearing in half of her pancreas and left kidney, which prosecution experts testified could not have been caused by a fall. Rees, who prosecuted the case against Torres, said testimony from biomechanical engineers is based on an imperfect science. They can’t experiment on a child, so their findings are really inconclusive, the prosecutor said.

A jury last year decided that Torres was guilty of involuntary manslaughter, not murder as she was originally charged. Spiering, at the time, said the jury’s verdict clearly indicated that this was not a purposeful beating of the child but a death caused by negligence.

“It’s sad and emotional,” Spiering said while recalling the Torres case. “Understanding and forgiveness are hard to come by when you’re talking about the death of a child.”

But that’s why there are two sides to these criminal cases, Spiering said. Motive can play a key role in child abuse cases, because investigators are ultimately trying to determine why this adult would purposely injure a child.

Investigators look to see if the defendant has a criminal past or incidents of violence or threats of violence. If an investigation is being done properly, you have to speak to a lot of people, the defense attorney said.

Inconsistent statements from defendants don’t necessarily point to guilt, Spiering said. Traumatic events can affect a person’s memory of the incident.

McAllister said sometimes potential witnesses might have seen the injuries occur, but may became reluctant to speak out as soon as ambulances and police show up.

You go find these witnesses, McAllister said. “Was this person (the defendant) really the only one there?”

Finding reluctant witnesses and waiting for young witnesses to be ready to talk can also take up a lot of time, Rees said.

But child witnesses could be traumatized by the death of a brother, sister or other relative. Rees said pushing these children to relive such a tragic event too soon after could retraumatize them. They also might be too young to articulate what they actually saw. Time can sometimes help these children heal emotionally, so they can provide more accurate information.

Bee Local News Editor Patty Guerra contributed to this report.

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Child abuse investigations are emotional, take time."