MICHELE AVILES - 5 Months - Haverstraw (s of West Point) NY

HAVERSTRAW, NY — A 41-year-old father was charged
Monday with beating his 5-month-old daughter to death, fracturing the
tiny baby's skull and ribs.Michael
A. Aviles stood hunched over, his hands cuffed behind his back, as
Haverstraw Town Justice John K. Grant read the felony complaint accusing
him of second-degree murder in the killing of Michelle Aviles, born
Aug. 3."The defendant did with blunt force trauma to the
head, body and torso, including but not limited to, cause the following
injuries: fracture, bruising, swelling to the brain and skull, bruising
and fractures to the rib cage, thereby causing the death of said child,"
Grant said.Haverstraw police and Rockland prosecutors
declined to comment on the details of the baby's death, such as whether
the newborn was beaten by hand or with an object.Lt. Martin Lund said after court that the investigation into the circumstances of the baby's death was continuing.Lund
gave a short statement describing the cause of the baby's death and how
the police got involved. Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe, who
attended the arraignment with three of his prosecutors, declined to
comment, as did Police Chief Charles Miller.The heavy-set Haverstraw village resident's only comment in court was a quiet "Yes," when he was asked to confirm his name.A
Haverstraw police detective accused Aviles of beating his daughter to
death at the family's apartment on Hudson Avenue between noon Saturday
and 4 a.m. Sunday. The lead detective, Terry Collazo, signed the felony
complaint.From medical personnel at Westchester Medical
Center in Valhalla, Haverstraw police learned the baby had suffered
serious injuries.. The baby had first been taken to Nyack Hospital but
was later transferred to Westchester.Lund said after the court arraignment that Haverstraw police were called about the baby's injuries at 10:15 a.m. Sunday."They told us Michele Aviles suffered life-threatening injuries," Lund said.The detective and prosecutors went to the hospital, only to be told the baby died from her injuries at 11:35 a.m.Lund said the baby's death led detectives and prosecutors to an apartment at 153 Hudson Ave. in Haverstraw village.The infant's death marked the first homicide in Rockland this year and the town's first since 2007.Michael
Aviles lived in the rear apartment of the red-brick house with the baby
and her mother, who was his girlfriend, authorities said.No one answered the door at the family's home Monday afternoon.A
neighbor said she believed three families lived in the house along the
dead-end portion of Hudson Avenue. She said she didn't know Aviles or
any of the families living in the house.The Sheriff's
Department Bureau of Criminal Investigation also went to the house and
searched for evidence along with the Rockland Computer Crimes Task
Force.The Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office
conducted an autopsy on the baby Monday and police arrested Michael
Aviles after the office ruled the child's death a homicide, authorities
said.Zugibe said he attended the autopsy in Westchester.
Zugibe's father, Dr. Frederick Zugibe, was Rockland's medical examiner
for three decades."Based on the medical examiner's
determination this was a homicide and the death of Michele Aviles came
from massive blunt force trauma, we brought a second-degree charge"
against Michael Aviles, Lund said.Aviles didn't enter a
plea to the felony charge when arraigned before Grant. Prosecutors
Patricia Gunning and Jennifer Parietti, two senior district attorneys
with the office's special victims unit, presented the charges.Grant
told Aviles that he would automatically be held without bail since a
town and village justice cannot set bail on murder and other top felony
counts.Two Haverstraw officers, Sgt. Ken Beyer and Officer
David Kryger, brought Aviles to court and took him back to the town
lockup for transfer to the county jail in New City.Grant
told Aviles that the Rockland Public Defender's Office would interview
him in jail and represent him if he met financial guidelines and could
not afford an attorney.Aviles faces a preliminary felony
hearing Friday afternoon during which the prosecution must present
minimal evidence to continue holding him in custody. A grand jury could
return an indictment, canceling the Friday hearing and moving the case
from the town court's jurisdiction to a higher court, such as Rockland
County Court.The murder charge carries a prison sentence upon conviction of 15 to 25 years to life in prison.

http://www.app.com/article/20110118/NEWS05/110118028/NY-father-charged-in-5-month-old-daughter-s-beating-death

HAVERSTRAW, N.Y. — The mother of a 5-month-old Haverstraw girl whom
police say was beaten to death by the baby's father has been arrested on murder charges.
The Journal News says police charged 22-year-old Lisette Capellan
with second-degree murder on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after her
husband was indicted on the same charge.
Investigators say 41-year-old Michael Aviles and his wife brought the
severely injured baby to a hospital early on Jan. 16. She died later that day.
An autopsy revealed that the baby suffered skull and rib fractures.
Capellan's lawyer told the Journal News that he had just learned of the arrest and didn't know the details.
___
Information from: The Journal News, http://www.thejournalnews.com

http://www.lohud.com/article/20111201/NEWS03/112010368/Rockland-trial-accusing-Haverstraw-parents-murdering-their-5-month-old-daughter-opens?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews

NEW CITY — A Haverstraw couple charged with murder brought their 5-month-old baby into Nyack Hospital in January and claimed they didn't know how she suffered a fractured skull and ribs, along with multiple bruises, emergency room personnel testified Wednesday during the first day of their trial.

Before testimony started, the defense argued that the prosecution can't prove who killed Michelle Aviles and asked the judge to dismiss the case. The judge declined.

Emergency room nurses and a doctor described how they revived the baby several times after her parents brought her to the hospital at 4:20 a.m. Jan. 16.

The baby died later that morning at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.

Parents Michael Aviles, 42, and Lissette Capellan, 24, told the Nyack Hospital nurses that they were alone at home with their baby on Saturday, Jan. 15, and found the child listless and cold between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Sunday, several hours after she was put to bed.

The nurses and doctor testified that the bruises on the baby were immediately obvious.

"The baby was dead when it came in," registered nurse Melissa Carrigan told County Court Judge William K. Nelson.

She said both Michael Aviles and Capellan were upset about the baby, but declined to tell emergency personnel how the baby got severely injured while under their care.

Carrigan said she and others suspected child abuse — and a nursing supervisor filed a report leading to a Rockland Child Protective Services investigator and Haverstraw police getting involved.

"I asked them what happened to the baby," Carrigan said. "They said they didn't know. They said they were the only ones with the baby."

She said that at one point, Aviles stood with his head down while medical personnel worked on the girl, saying, "I can't have this happen again."

Carrigan said Aviles didn't explain his comment when asked what he meant.

The nonjury trial opened Wednesday morning with opening statements by the prosecution and defense attorneys and testimony for the prosecution. Nelson will decide the two second-degree murder charges each against Aviles and Capellan.

Before testimony started, lawyers for the parents asked Nelson to dismiss the charges. They argued the prosecution can't prove who killed the infant.

Nelson rejected the request, saying in 27 years as a judge he's never dismissed a case after opening statements.

"Today will not become the first time," Nelson said, adding he would deal with the dismissal issue when the defense attorneys make the same request after all the evidence is presented.

The defense lawyers — David Goldstein for Capellan and Hollis Griffin for Aviles — sought and were granted a nonjury trial, with Nelson to determine technical legal issues of whether the prosecutor can prove the underlying elements to support the murder counts.

Aviles and Capellan are accused of acting together and individually with depraved indifference when causing the baby's death and acting recklessly to cause her death.

The murder counts carry 15 to 25 years to life in prison.

In his opening statement, Rockland District Attorney's Office prosecutor Stephen Moore said the evidence would show beyond a reasonable doubt that Aviles and Capellan acted individually and together to brutally beat their daughter between Jan. 15 and 16.

"The only two people who could have caused the injuries were Michael Aviles and Lissette Capellan," Moore said, adding they didn't call 911 and claim they didn't know about the injuries to the baby.

Moore and prosecutor Patricia Gunning argue Aviles brutalized the child and Capellan knew about it and did nothing to stop him.

Goldstein said Capellan never hurt the baby and Aviles woke her up out of a sound sleep to say the baby was cold and listless between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Jan. 16.

Goldstein blamed Aviles for beating the baby, saying Capellan did nothing but try to revive the child.

"There will be no proof whosoever that Lissette Capellan harmed this child," Goldstein said. "There will not be any proof that Lissette Capellan stood by and watched this co-defendant beat this child."

Nurses testified that Capellan, who works at a nursing home and is trained in life-saving techniques, didn't mention trying to revive the child.

Griffin said Aviles drank more than a quart of rum the night before and couldn't remember what happened after 10 p.m. Jan 15 and before finding the baby in the crib needed help and taking her to the hospital.

The prosecutors, Griffin said, "have to prove what happened that night."

"Quite frankly, they don't know," Griffin said. "They have to prove there was reckless conduct by both. We will prove in the end that Mr. Aviles is not guilty."

Both Aviles and Capellan say they went to bed between 10 and 10:30 p.m. Jan. 15 and left the other to put Michelle to bed.

Both say they awakened to find the baby in distress.

Left unaddressed is the nearly three-hour gap between when the couple say they found their baby listless and when they arrived at the hospital.

Emergency room Dr. Aiisha Stroop described the medications and procedures performed on Michelle Aviles, who was transferred Jan. 16 to Westchester Medical Center's pediatric unit, where she died that Sunday.

Answering questions from Gunning, Stroop said she didn't know how long the baby had not been breathing before coming to the hospital and said she had been suspicious of child abuse.

She said both Aviles and Capellan told her they had spent the day with the baby but didn't know how she got hurt.

Nyack Hospital emergency room Nurse Gayle-Anne Armstrong, who testified that she had 23 years of experience, also told the judge about the emergency efforts.

She said the back of the baby's fractured skull felt like a "marshmallow ."

The trial continues this morning at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City.

NEW CITY — The Rockland trial of Haverstraw parents
charged with murdering their 5-month-old daughter begins to wind down
this week with testimony from defense experts on when the baby was
beaten and alcohol’s effects on one’s memory and actions.The
non-jury trial resumes Wednesday morning before Judge William K. Nelson
at the County Courthouse in New City. He has heard testimony on eight
days during the past month.
Michael
Aviles, 42, and Lissette Capellan, 22, are charged with two counts each
of second-degree murder in the death of Michelle Aviles nearly a year
ago on the morning of Jan. 16 inside the unmarried couple’s apartment at
153 Hudson Ave.
The baby suffered fractures on both sides of her skull and rib cage, along with bruising across her body and internal bleeding.
Police
and prosecutors have accused the couple of acting together when killing
the baby with depraved indifference and recklessness. They have accused
Aviles of beating the baby and contend Capellan is culpable for doing
nothing to protect her baby.
Defense
attorneys David Goldstein for Capellan and Hollis Griffin for Aviles
have asked Nelson to dismiss the murder charges on the grounds the
prosecution failed to prove who killed the baby or provide sufficient
evidence to support the murder charges.
Prosecutors
Stephen Moore and Patricia Gunning countered they have provided
sufficient testimony and evidence to show the couple killed their baby.
Nelson reserved decision and has continued to hear testimony.
Forensic
pathologist Jonathan Arden has testified for the prosecution that the
baby died from brain injuries and estimated someone beat her at 1 a.m.
Jan. 16 or within an hour later.
Capellan’s forensic pathologist will provide a different time for when the baby was beaten, Goldstein said.
Dr.
Charles Welti will tell the judge that the baby was beaten within 90
minutes of when the couple brought her to the Nyack Hospital emergency
room at 4:22 a.m. Jan. 16, Goldstein said.
Time
has become an issue. They originally told hospital staff and a
child-abuse investigator the baby was found unresponsive about 1 a.m.
when one or both of them woke up.

Capellan and Aviles each contend they went to bed between 10 and
10:30 p.m. on the Saturday night of Jan. 15. They differ on who awoke
whom and why at 1 to 1:30 a.m.Capellan later told a Haverstraw police officer that she didn’t know if she woke up at 1 a.m., 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.
Goldstein
has said she woke up about 45 minutes before bringing the baby into the
emergency room clothed in a diaper and blanket. An upstairs neighbor
testified hearing someone walking and a dragging sound across the floor
around 3:40 a.m.
“We
all know the baby died from being beaten,” Goldstein said. “The
incident took place about an hour to an hour-and-a-half before their
arrival at the hospital.”
Griffin
has argued that Aviles drank too much rum with cola on Jan. 15 and that
he blacked out and doesn’t remember what happened.
Aviles
told police he might have dropped or hurt the baby, but doesn’t know.
Capellan told police she made Aviles drinks but went to asleep, so
Aviles must have beaten the baby. He told police she didn’t hurt the
child.
Both told
the police and investigators that they didn’t know the baby had been
beaten until they were told so by hospital personnel, who testified the
baby’s bruises were obvious and she likely was dead on arrival. The
hospital filed a child-abuse report, leading to Rockland Child
Protective Services getting involved.
Griffin’s expert psychologist will testify Friday about excessive drinking and the impact on one’s memory.
Dr.
Alan Tuckman already has testified for the prosecution that people can
black out and not remember what happened when they are drunk after the
fact, but people know what they are doing when drunk.

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