SAVANNAH WHITE - 2 yo (2005) - Rainbow City AL

Testimony got under way Thursday in the capital murder trial of a
Rainbow City man charged in the 2005 death of a 2-year-old girl.





Timothy Scott Boyle

Timothy Scott Boyle, 25, is charged in the death of his girlfriend’s daughter, Savannah White.Savannah’s
sister, who is now 9 years old, took the witness stand Thursday
afternoon and told about Boyle living with her, her mother and sister
at the time her sister died.She showed the scar on the top of
her hand from a cigarette burn she received while trying to keep Boyle
from burning her sister.“I was trying to stop him and I got burned,” she said.
She told how Boyle threw her sister against the bathtub and slapped her in the face.“I was in the bathtub and he told me to get out and threw me against the wall,” she said.She said he then threw her sister against the corner of the bath rub and held her under the water.On
the morning that Savannah was taken to the hospital, her sister said
she tried to wake her up but couldn’t and ran next door to a neighbor’s
apartment when her mother would not help her sister.In opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Marcus Reid told jurors it has been four years since Savannah was murdered.Reid said a few months before Savannah’s death, her mother, Melissa White Burk, became involved with Boyle.“Melissa
White put him ahead of her children,” Reid said. “Both became more
interested in drugs, sex and enjoying themselves than taking care of
the kids.”On the morning of Savannah’s second birthday, she was
in the emergency room at Riverview Regional Medical Center. She died
the following day at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.Reid said
the autopsy was expected to prove that Savannah was burned on her foot
with a cigarette more than a week before she died and had other
cigarette burns on her body.He said the autopsy showed that she
had a brain injury just before she died but the forensic pathologist is
expected to testify that Savannah’s brain also showed older injuries.“She didn’t just get hit one time,” he said. “He hit her over and over and over again.”Reid said she had many bruises on her forehead and had marks all over her head, under her hairline, “where you couldn’t see.”Boyle
was arrested Oct. 26 by the Rainbow City Police Department when
officers found drugs at the residence while investigating the incident
involving the child. Attorneys Scott Stewart and Walt Buttram represent Boyle.Stewart said in opening statements the prosecutors have “produced a horrific case.”“There is always more to the stories,” he said.He asked jurors to use common sense as they heard from witnesses.“At
the end of the day, you’ll have a clearer picture of what took place,”
he said. “We’re confident Mr. Boyle is innocent of this charge.”Reid said the prosecution expects to prove capital murder.Melissa
Burk White, 20, was charged with first-degree aggravated child abuse.
She also was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Judge sentences Boyle to death
Last Modified: Friday, March 12, 2010 at 11:17 p.m.

Timothy Scott Boyle was sentenced Friday morning to death by lethal injection for the 2005 murder of 2-year-old Savannah White.

Etowah County Circuit Judge David Kimberley handed down the sentence. He also sentenced Boyle to 10 years in prison for the unlawful possession of a controlled substance, evidence of which was found during the murder investigation.

Boyle, 25, was convicted of capital murder in November, and the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty.

Savannah White, the daughter of Boyle’s girlfriend, died from a series of blunt-force injuries to her head, testimony revealed during the trial.

Savannah’s older sister, now 9, testified she saw Boyle slap around the 2-year-old and throw her against a bathtub in the family’s Rainbow City home one night not long before the child’s death on Oct. 27, 2005.

Savannah was afraid of her mother’s boyfriend in the weeks leading up to her death, other witnesses testified.

Bruising around Savannah’s head was discovered during autopsy and was consistent with what would occur after repeated open-handed blows to the head during a period of days or weeks.

“Because of the distribution, those were multiple strikes — I don’t know exactly how many — over half of her skull or more,” said forensic pathologist and key witness James Lauridson, who examined Savannah’s body after her death. “I cannot imagine how this could have been an accident.”

Brain swelling resulting from the blows was the official cause of death, Lauridson testified.

“The defendant’s actions in the brutal murder of this helpless child clearly fit within the parameters of the aggravating circumstances found by the jury to exist in this case,” Kimberley said in his judgment.

He appointed attorneys Bill Willard and Morgan Cunningham to serve as Boyle’s counsel for an appeal.

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20100312/NEWS/100319944