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Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

Expert witnesses clash during Peters trial

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The murder trial of Delphos resident Christopher Peters is heading into its fifth and possibly final day, with the defense expected to rest its case in the morning, with closing arguments to follow. The jury will then receive instructions from Van Wert County Common Pleas Judge Martin D. Burchfield prior to deliberations.

Diane Scala-Barnett, chief deputy coroner for the Lucas County Coroner’s Office, testifies Thursday during Christopher Peters’ murder trial. Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent

Thursday’s trial session was a battle of expert witnesses, with the prosecution calling three forensic scientists to discuss injuries received by 15-month-old Hayden Ridinger, and to provide their opinion on the young boy’s cause of death.

Julie Saul, a consultant hired by the Lucas County Coroner’s Office in the field of forensic anthropology, testified on her examination of the young victim’s bones. Saul noted that Hayden had suffered a number of broken ribs on the left side of his body, with some of the ribs broken more than once and one rib sustaining six separate fractures. Saul said that, while many of the fractured ribs were sustained around the time of death, others occurred as much as several weeks ago, or longer.

When asked by special prosecutor Juergen Waldick whether, to the best of her knowledge and medical certainty, several of the fractures occurred around the time of death, Saul answered “yes.”

Robert Forney Jr. who is also employed with the Lucas County Coroner’s Office, then testified concerning the defense’s contention that Hayden died, not from injuries received, but from a reaction to a toxic dose of Benadryl.

Forney, the coroner’s office’s chief toxicologist — someone who studies harmful substances — noted that, while the level of diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, found in Hayden’s body at the time of death was “toxic” — meaning it was harmful — it wasn’t “lethal”: deadly enough to cause death. Forney added that the amount of diphenhydramine found in the boy’s body was below the “margin of safety” required.

Although the defense tried to shake Forney’s testimony, he was adamant that the concentration of diphenhydramine found in Hayden’s body would not be fatal.

The prosecution’s third, and final, witness was Dr. Diane Scala-Barnett, chief deputy coroner for the Lucas County Coroner’s Office.

Barnett, who performed the autopsy on the young victim’s body, went into minute detail concerning the injuries the boy received prior to death, including 24 injuries to his back, fractured ribs on the left side of his body, a hole in his diaphragm, the collapse of both lungs, and a pulmonary contusion caused when a kidney was forcibly pushed into his chest from behind.

Barnett, who also showed autopsy photos detailing injuries to the Ridinger boy, said the cause of death was threefold, with the collapsed lungs and rib injuries and the hole in his diaphragm from his kidney being forcibly pushed into his chest being the main factors, and diphenhydramine a contributing factor to the boy’s death, in that it interfered with Hayden’s ability to breath — something already severely compromised by the injuries he received.

Barnett said the diphenhydramine added “insult to injury,” rather than being the main cause of death.

“The cause of death was blunt force injuries to his chest and abdomen due to a beating,” Barnett said. “Hayden died due to the many fractured ribs and the collapse of both lungs; he also died do to a pulmonary contusion where the kidney was forced into the chest cavity and the lungs filled up with blood.”

Barnett said the boy’s death likely occurred sometime between 12 and 18 hours prior to his body being found around noon on November 15, 2016, at his home in The Old Lincoln Inn apartment complex.

After the state rested its case, the defense called its expert witness, well-known forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz, 91, who has been involved over the years in a number of famous cases, including O.J. Simpson’s civil trial and the disappearance of Jon Benet Ramsey. Spitz disagreed with the prosecution’s findings and insisted that the boy died from a toxic level of diphenhydramine.

When asked by defense attorney William Kluge how he determined the cause of death, Spitz replied: “I did not determine that; the toxicology report determined that.”

Spitz cited a number of cases where young children have been adversely affected by similar levels of diphenhydramine as was found in Hayden’s body, and said the level of the chemical could have been higher than reported because of what he felt was a “tainted” blood sample taken from the boy’s head.

Waldick savaged Spitz under cross-examination, ridiculing the two-page report he gave to the defense for failing to list many of the injuries suffered by the young victim, and also noting that, of those young victims Dr. Spitz cited who had suffered from toxic levels of diphenhydramine, none of them actually died.

Waldick also said Dr. Spitz’ conclusions came from someone who did not see the boy’s body and who did not perform any of the tests on which the cause of death was based, and which had no real evidence to back it up.

“Do you have a shred of evidence that supports that, other than your opinion?” Waldick asked Dr. Spitz during his cross-examination.

The defense likely has just one remaining witness: Valerie Dean, Hayden’s Ridinger’s mother, who was subpoenaed to testify but has not appeared in court yet. Barring any further motions or objections, closing arguments should follow, with the jury then receiving instructions and beginning its deliberations.

POSTED: 09/22/17 at 7:24 am. FILED UNDER: News