"Newborn John" GILLETTE-CASCIO - 2 Months (2009) - West Monroe/ Irvine CA

A 4th District Court jury on Tuesday is expected to hear closing
arguments in the trial of Chase Cascio, the man accused of second-degree
murder after he was arrested in 2009 for shaking his 2-month-old son to
death in 2009 after an argument with his wife.Cascio is charged with second-degree murder.
On
Monday, defense attorney Darrell Oliveaux called prosecution witnesses
Victoria Gillette and Rhonda Gillette, back to the stand to ask them to
detail their relationships to the defendant; when they first noticed the
bruises on the baby's body; and whether they had suspicions early on
that Cascio could have inflicted the wounds.
Victoria Gillette is the baby's mother and Rhonda Gillette is the baby's grandmother.
Victoria
Gillette confirmed that she had been dating Cascio before she became
pregnant and the two eventually married. It was only after the marriage
that arguments between them became more frequent, she said, though
Cascio was never violent toward her. She confirmed her earlier testimony
during which she said Cascio had handled the baby "very well"
immediately after the baby was born, when she couldn't tend to the baby
completely herself.
However,
there were occasions during their marriage when verbal arguments would
get so heated that she would leave to go to her parents' house, she
said.
It was after
a phone argument in June 2009 that Cascio picked the baby up from
Victoria Gillette's grandmother's home. In a subsequent phone
conversation, Victoria Gillette noticed Cascio sounded upset, and she
could hear the baby crying, she said. It was as if he himself was about
to cry, she said.
Cascio
then told her something was wrong with the baby and they needed to go
to the hospital. At the time, Victoria Gillette said she didn't think
Cascio could have hurt the baby. Now, she's knows better, she testified
Monday.
The
News-Star files state that on June 3, 2009, an ambulance took the
2-month-old boy from Cascio's residence at 204 Kings Drive in West
Monroe to Glenwood Regional Medical Center's emergency room, according
to the police report.

After arriving at Glenwood, the infant was sent to the pediatric
intensive care unit at St. Francis North Hospital. The injuries were too
serious, physicians told the couple.Officers
and a child welfare specialist responded after the attending physician
discovered large quantities of blood surrounding the infant's brain and
subdural hematoma.
The attending physician noted that the infant was not responsive and not breathing on his own, reports stated.
The physician reportedly associated the injuries with Shaken Baby Syndrome.
According to police reports, the doctor noted that the baby also had broken ribs, but that the injury was older and healing.
An
investigation into the incident revealed that the infant was in
Cascio's care when Cascio made the 911 call for assistance during the
afternoon, The News-Star files state.
On
Monday, Oliveaux asked Victoria Gillette if she had noticed any of
these bruises on the baby's body earlier, because expert witnesses —
physicians — had testified that the bruises seemed at least four to
seven days old, he said.
Victoria Gillette said she did not notice the bruises at or before the hospital.
When
Oliveaux turned his questioning to the baby's grandmother, Rhonda
Gillette confirmed that she didn't like Cascio since her daughter
started dating him, and she tried to prevent them from dating. However,
she said she knew that her daughter loved him.
"I tried real hard to like him," Rhonda Gillette said.
On
the day the baby was rushed to the hospital, she confirmed that she
overheard Cascio say: "Please forgive me, I didn't mean to do it."
Since
the trial started three weeks ago, prosecuting attorneys Josephine
Heller and Nick Anderson have called 11 witnesses including family
members and experts such as local neurosurgeon Dr. Jose Bermudez, chief
of St. Francis' pediatric intensive care unit Dr. Joaquin Rosales, and
forensic pathologist Dr. Frank Peretti of the Arkansas Crime Lab, Heller
said.
The prosecution rested its case last week and the defense rested its case Monday.
Closing arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Ouachita Parish Courthouse.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20120515/NEWS01/205150315

A jury on Tuesday found Chase Cascio guilty of negligent homicide in
the death of his 2-month-old son, who was killed in June 2009.After
about five hours of deliberation, the jury came back with the guilty
verdict that could put Cascio in prison for two to five years, said
prosecuting attorney Josephine Heller.
The
verdict on Tuesday followed closing arguments by both sides, focusing
on whether it was Cascio who beat and shook the baby, whether he
intended to harm the baby, the believability of witness testimonies and
the timing of events.
Prosecutors
Heller and Nick Anderson told the jury that Cascio had a violent past,
had been quoted saying "everyone has a breaking point" and that
pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Jose Bermudez had testified that the injuries
the baby suffered were consistent with those caused by blunt force
trauma less than an hour or so before the baby was sent to the hospital.
Anderson
argued Cascio had reached his breaking point at home, with the
increasing arguments he had gotten into with his wife stemming from
their different upbringings and financial struggles.
Anderson
said witnesses such as the baby's mother, great-grandmother and a
family neighbor had testified that the baby had seemed happy days and
hours before he was in Cascio's care.
But
defense attorney Darrell Oliveaux suggested the injuries could have
happened much earlier, perhaps when the baby was in the care of a
different family member. He said Bermudez, who had testified about the
injuries, later deferred expert opinion regarding when the injuries
could have occurred to forensic pathologist Dr. Frank Peretti of the
Arkansas Crime Lab.
Peretti
told the court the bleeding and injuries could have happened hours or
days earlier, Oliveaux told the jury. He added that Peretti had said the
baby didn't have neck injuries consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome, so
the shaking of the baby and patting of its back to which Cascio had
admitted was in an attempt to help the baby, who was already choking,
Oliveaux said. He added that the symptoms the baby displayed when Cascio
was caring for his son — loss of consciousness, irritability,
respiratory arrest — were consistent with injuries the baby could have
received hours or days earlier, according to expert testimony.
The
News-Star files state that on June 3, 2009, an ambulance took the child
from Cascio's residence to Glenwood Regional Medical Center's emergency
room. The infant was sent to the pediatric intensive care unit at St.
Francis North Hospital later because the injuries were too serious.
The
attending physician discovered large quantities of blood surrounding
the infant's brain and subdural hematoma. The attending physician noted
that the infant was not responsive and not breathing on his own, reports
stated.
The
physician reportedly associated the injuries with Shaken Baby Syndrome,
although the doctor noted that the baby also had broken ribs, but that
the injury was older and healing.
An investigation into the incident revealed that the infant was in Cascio's care when he made the 911 call for assistance.
Jurors
were asked to find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder, guilty
of manslaughter, guilty of negligent homicide or not guilty.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20120516/NEWS01/205160323