"Newborn Jane" PARKER - 3 Months (2009) - Columbus GA

A Columbus couple accused of beating a three month old baby returned to court Tuesday.
Tonia Parker and Michael Escobedo are charged with cruelty to
children stemming from a June 2009 incident that left Parker's toddler
disfigured with a skull fracture.

More gruesome details surrounding the beating of a three month old
baby girl were presented in court. Attorneys from both sides shared
their opening statements -- the prosecution laying out the severe abuse
the baby endured and the defense saying the mother knew nothing about
it.

Because of the graphic details of this child abuse case, Assistant
District Attorney Michael Craig became emotional while presenting his
opening statements to the jury. He said, "She [Tonia Parker] admitted
when the baby would cry they would place a pillow over her face to stop
her from crying, she admitted that sometimes she would feed the baby
peppermint Schnapps to stop the baby from crying, and if that wasn't bad
enough, she did what any loving parent would do and that was grab a
hammer and tap the baby on the head with it to get her to stop crying."

Parker's defense attorney, Will Kirby, said she knew nothing about
the alleged abuse her three month old baby endured, because it was her
boyfriend Michael Escobedo who inflicted it, "The truth is, she didn't
know this happened. So when she woke up and saw the bump on the child's
head, she thought it was a bug bite."

However, there is one thing the attorneys can agree on and that is
this case will be hard to try and even harder to hear the details that
will be revealed. Michael Craig told News Leader 9, "Anybody that has
kids understands these kinds of cases. They really touch you in a way
that brings out emotion and that's what happened today."

Kirby added, "It's a very emotional case. There is very graphic
evidence. I think it would pull at anyone's emotions. I think our
biggest challenge is to just hope that we can get a fair trial for my
client and get the jury to objectively view the evidence as it is
presented."

Both Parker and Escobedo remain in the Muscogee County Jail. Their trial continues Wednesday in Judge Bobby Peter's courtroom.
http://www.wtvm.com/story/15318584/by-taylor-barnhill-