CAMDEN FRY - 8 yo (2009) - North Kingstown RI

Emotional testimony from hospital staff
Kimberly Fry on trial for murdering her daughter

Updated: Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011, 8:38 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011, 8:38 PM EDT

Melissa Sardelli
Reported by: Sean Daly
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - The court heard emotional testimony from two hospital workers who took the stand in the Kimberly Fry murder trial on Wednesday.

Courtney Pichardo, R.N. and patient care technician Barbara Kettle both took care of Kimberly Fry at South County Hospital after she took an overdose of drugs.

Fry was hospitalized the same day her daughter Camden's lifeless body was discovered in her own bed.

Pichardo testified that Fry was crying hysterically when she arrived at the ICU from the emergency room on August 11, 2009. She said at one point when she was consoling Fry she heard her say, 'I'm her mother. I was supposed to protect her, but I couldn't protect her from me.'

According to Pichardo's testimony, Fry later asked if she could call her husband Timothy. After being told that wasn't a good idea and that she should rest, Kimberly reportedly responded, 'could I write him a letter?'

Fry was then given a piece of paper and a pen.

Barbara Kettle, a patient care technician at the hospital at the time became emotional while on the witness stand, telling the court she will "never forget" what Kimberly Fry said to her in the ICU.

Kettle said Fry told her that she 'hurt her daughter, sat on her and put her hands over her mouth to make her stop crying.'

Kimberly Fry, 38, is accused of strangling her daughter, Camden, in 2009 after the girl refused to take a bath.

She has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/hospital-workers-testify-in-kim-fry-trial

ACI counselor takes stand in Fry case
Says Fry admitted to putting hands on girl's face

Updated: Thursday, 29 Sep 2011, 7:15 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 29 Sep 2011, 1:20 PM EDT

By Nancy Krause, Digital Executive Producer
Reported by: Sean Daly
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Kimberly Fry, the mother on trial in the murder of her 8-year-old-daughter, admitted to putting her hands over the young girl's mouth, according to testimony in South Kingstown Thursday.

Lori Rizzo, a counselor at the women's unit of the Adult Correctional Institutions, told jurors she spoke with Fry for about 10 to 15 minutes during a prison orientation session in 2009.

Rizzo testified that while other prisoners filed out of a small classroom, Fry stayed behind and asked "Can I talk to you?"

At that point, Rizzo said Fry began to cry, saying she was a horrible person for what she had done and that she deserved to be at the ACI.

Fry - who attempted to commit suicide the same day Camden Fry's lifeless body was found in her bed inside the family's North Kingstown home - is accused of strangling her daughter after the young girl threw a tantrum over taking a bath.

Rizzo testified Fry told her the last thing she remembered before waking up in the hospital was placing her hands on the girl's face.
Fry told Rizzo she took four different kinds of medication; and as a nurse she knew what she needed to take to end her life, the counselor testified.

Rizzo said Fry realized she'd probably end up in prison for the rest of her life and said she didn't care.

The prosecution also introduced into evidence what amounts to be a journal entry that Kimberly Fry wrote that reveals she was a troubled mother and had a troubled marriage - more than a year before her daughter died.

The prosecution has rested its case. Attorneys are expected to begin presenting evidence in Fry's defense on Friday.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/aci-counselor-testifies-kimberly-fry-trial

Legal issues addressed in Fry trial
Prosecution rested case Thursday after 10 days

Updated: Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 7:51 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 10:25 AM EDT

Shaun Towne
Reporting by: Sean Daly
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Lawyers from both sides spent most of the time in court on Friday arguing legal points outside the presence of the jurors - who were sent home as a result.

The prosecution rested its case Thursday after ten days on the stand.

Kimberly Fry, 38, of North Kingstown, is charged with second-degree murder following the 2009 death of her 8-year-old daughter Camden.

On Friday, Fry's lawyers called former state chief medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Laposata to testify that Camden died during a restraint attempt, after refusing to take a bath.

State medical examiner Dr. William Cox testified Tuesday that Camden Fry died of cardio and respiratory failure as a result of asphyxia brought on by manual strangulation.

Fry has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge. She admits to killing her daughter, but maintains that it was not intentional.

Lawyers are expected to present evidence in Fry's defense Monday.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/defense-testimony-to-begin-in-kimberly-fry-murder-trial

Girl was suffocated, says former M.E.
Laposata insists difference between strangling

Updated: Monday, 03 Oct 2011, 6:57 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 03 Oct 2011, 1:32 PM EDT

Bill Tomison
with reporting by Walt Buteau
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Testimony continued Monday at District Court in the case of Kimberly Fry, the local mother accused of strangling her daughter -- with a former top doctor maintaining the girl died because she was suffocated, not strangled.

Before the testimony began Monday morning, the judge released juror number 69 from the panel. No reason was given.

Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, the former Rhode Island Chief Medical Examiner, took the stand again, offering the defense's potential cause of death: asphyxia due to compression of the neck, torso and mouth-- not strangulation, as a different doctor had previously testified for the prosecution.

The attorney of 38-year-old Kimberly Fry brought Laposata back to court to testify in more detail about the types of asphyxiation a person can suffer. Prosecutors say Fry strangled her daughter, 8-year-old Camden.

But Laposata gave the jury something else to consider: injuries to the 8-year-old are consistent with compression asphyxia, she said.

Timothy Fry, Kimberly's estranged husband, previously testified that she told him she'd sat on top of Camden, and put her hand over her nose and mouth to make her stop screaming.

Also during Monday morning's testimony, Laposata used a mannequin the size of Camden Fry, on the floor of the courtroom, showing the jury where the injuries were on the girl's body, and how they related to what Kimberly Fry claims she did to her daughter.

While Laposata was being cross-examined, a prosecutor asked her whether compression to the neck was the same as strangulation. Laposata insisted there is a difference.

Laposata is also expected to testify further about the stress of restraint. Fry claims her child died after she tried to restrain her during a struggle over a bath.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/south-kingstown-elizabeth-laposata-on-suffocation-monday-kimberly-fry-murder-trial

Fry sobs after acquittal attempt fails
Closing arguments expected Wednesday

Updated: Tuesday, 04 Oct 2011, 7:24 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 04 Oct 2011, 10:23 AM EDT

Melissa Sardelli
Shaun Towne
Reported by: Sean Daly
WAKEFIELD, R.I. (WPRI) - Kimberly Fry broke down in court Tuesday afternoon after the judge denied a request to acquit her of strangling her young daughter.

Shortly before noontime on Tuesday Kimberly Fry's defense team rested their case.

Judge William E. Carnes Jr., then had a question and answer session with Fry saying to her, "You know the law is clear, the decision to testify is yours and yours alone - you don't have to. Do you understand that?"

Fry replied, "Yes."

Judge Carnes then asked, "Did you spend time overnight thinking about it?"

Again Fry responded, "Yes."

"Did you talk to your attorney about it?"

"Yes. I don't think I can emotionally handle it," Fry stated.

Fry, 38, is charged with second-degree murder following the 2009 death of her daughter, Camden. The North Kingstown mother is accused of strangling the 8-year-old girl when she was fussing over taking a bath.

Former Rhode Island Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Laposata testified Monday that the girl died during her mother's attempt to restrain her, through a combination of chest compressions, strangulation and suffocation.

The medical examiner that performed Camden's autopsy, Dr. William Cox, testified for the prosecution last week. He claimed that Camden died of cardio and respiratory failure brought on by asphyxia as a result of strangulation.

Closing arguments are set for Wednesday.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/wakefield-kimberly-fry-murder-trial-set-to-continue

Jury has case in mom's murder trial
Kimberly Fry charged with killing her daughter, 8

Updated: Wednesday, 05 Oct 2011, 7:11 PM EDT


Kimberly Fry charged with killing her daughter, 8

Updated: Wednesday, 05 Oct 2011, 7:11 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 05 Oct 2011, 10:44 AM EDT

Shaun Towne
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - After 12 days of testimony, 19 witnesses, dozens of exhibits and a day of dramatic closing arguments - the fate of a mother accused of strangling her daughter with her bare hands is now in the hands of the jury.

The judge charged the panel of seven women and five men Wednesday afternoon, after closing arguments in the case wrapped up at Washington County Superior Court shortly before 3 p.m.

The jury is deliberating whether or not to convict Kimberly Fry of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of her 8-year-old daughter, Camden.

While no one disputed during the trial that Fry killed the little girl after the child refused to take a bath; the defense and prosecution differed about intent.

The Defense

Fry's attorney Wednesday maintained her client never intended to hurt the child, who often acted out in violent tantrums.

Attorney Sarah Wright took an hour and 40 minutes for her closing argument, depicting Fry as a dedicated mother who suffered from depression.

"I would suggest to you there's no way the state proved this woman hurt her daughter intentionally," Wright told jurors.

She said Fry sat on the child to calm her down. She said Fry figured Camden had tired herself out during the tantrum and did not know the child was dead when put her in bed the night of Aug. 10, 2009. The little girl's father found the child's body the next morning.

The Prosecution

In a dramatic turn of events, the courtroom fell silent for several minutes during Assistant Attorney General Stephen Regine's closing argument.

Everyone in the courtroom watched as a stopwatch counted down five minutes; the amount of time - give or take - that pressure would have had to have been applied in order to bring the little girl from unconsciousness to death.

"[Fry's conduct] implies an extreme indifference for the sanctity of human life. That's murder in the second degree. That is murder in the second degree," said Assistant Attorney General Stephen Regine, who took 50 minutes for his closing argument. "You will have to have the courage, the courage and stand up to those big words of accidental and tragic and unintentional and stand up here and say MURDER! Because that's what happened here. That's what happened here."

Using phrases such as "hardness of the heart" and "cruelty or wickedness of disposition," Regine asked jurors to convict Fry of second-degree murder.

"Camden had the right to have a tantrum. [Fry] didn't have the right to end the tantrum in that way," he said.

During instructions, the judge told jurors they could convict on either murder in the second degree or manslaughter.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/south-kingstown-murder-trial-of-local-mom-kimberly-fry-winding-down

Jury finds RI mom guilty of murder
Kimberly Fry accused of killing daughter, 8

Updated: Thursday, 06 Oct 2011, 7:43 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 06 Oct 2011, 10:23 AM EDT

By Nancy Krause, Digital Executive Producer
Shaun Towne
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - More than two years after Kimberly Fry used her bare hands to strangle her 8-year-old daughter during a bathtime struggle, as Washington County jury Thursday found the North Kingstown mother guilty of second-degree murder.

After 12 days of testimony, 19 witnesses, and about seven hours of deliberations, the panel of seven women and five men returned its decision shortly after 3 p.m. inside Superior Court.

Fry, 38, was accused of strangling her daughter Camden to death in 2009, after the 8-year-old refused to take a bath.

The jury was deciding between second-degree murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter.


During closing arguments, Fry's lawyer said Camden's death was an accident, the result of a restraint attempt by Fry to control the young girl's tantrum. The prosecution argued otherwise, that Camden died of asphyxiation through intentional strangulation.

Fry faces up to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 20 years when she is sentenced.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/south-kingstown-jury-to-decide-fate-of-local-mother-kimberly-fry

Juror speaks out on Fry case
Juror: Fry knew what she was doing

Updated: Friday, 07 Oct 2011, 9:22 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 07 Oct 2011, 9:22 PM EDT

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - A juror who served on the Kimberly Fry murder trial spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News about her decision making and thought process leading up to the Rhode Island mother's conviction.

Patrica Sager was candid in her interview with Eyewitness News reporter Sean Daly, saying she believes Fry knew what she was doing when she strangled her 8-year old daughter to death.

"She had that momentary call to judgement of, 'Do I stop and call for help, or do I continue to choke the child and strangle her?' And she made that decision," Sager said.

"I did not see evidence of an accident," she said. "I saw second degree murder, and that was my vote."

The juror said she feels sympathy for Camden Fry, who was killed by her mother during a tantrum over taking a bath.

"None of this is Camden's fault. A parent is there to protect, a parent is there to nurture. If the child has difficulties the parent should give the child help."

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/juror-speaks-out-on-fry-case