"Toddler" Jane SILVEIRA - 3 yo (2007) - Taunton MA

TAUNTON — A jury has convicted Bryan M. James of
biting off the upper lip of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter and
punching the child so often that her ears became deformed and her body
constantly marked with bruises.
James, 37, of New Bedford, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday at
Taunton Superior Court after being found guilty Friday of three counts of assault and
battery on a child causing substantial injury and one count of simple
assault and battery. He was acquitted of one count of mayhem.
A single count of assault and battery on a child causing substantial
injury carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.



James stood emotionless as the jury foreman announced the verdict after 10
hours of deliberation. James was placed in handcuffs and escorted from
the courtroom. He nodded goodbye to his relatives, who were emotional
and left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
James' defense team — attorneys Theodore Barone and Brian Ritucci — declined to comment.
Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman prosecuted the case that Children's
Hospital in Boston ranked in 2007 among its worst child abuse cases
ever.
"It was a fair verdict for a barbaric act," said Rudman, who added
that the two-week-long trial demonstrated
that a jury could evaluate a case even when the victim is a young child.
"Acts like this will be seen for what they are," Rudman said.
Barone said in his closing arguments that there was no physical evidence that
linked James to the girl's injuries. He also suggested the girl and her
brother, 8, were influenced by police and social workers who already
were looking to pin James with abuse charges.
But the jury convicted James for causing the injuries the girl had when her
mother, Jessica L. Silveira, took her to the Kool Smiles dental office
and to St. Luke's Hospital in 2007.
In January 2007 at Kool Smiles, the girl had a cut on her upper lip, a
scraped chin, bruises around her neck and jaw and an apparent bite mark
on her arm. Three months later, at St. Luke's Hospital, the child's
upper lip had deteriorated to the point that it looked like she had a
cleft palate.
Her ears were also misshapen from what a Children's Hospital doctor testified was severe trauma
often associated with "cauliflower ear," the type of injury also called
"boxer's ear" caused by repeated punches.
The girl at first told investigators she had hurt her lip by falling in a
bathtub. But when she was taken to Children's Hospital in May 2007, she
told police and state social workers that "Daddy Bryan" bit and punched
her whenever he got mad that she wet her pants.
Last week, the girl, now 6, took the witness stand and testified against James.
"He was mean to me," the child said.
Rudman said she did not know the girl would testify until the trial began.
"We didn't know what was going to happen," said Rudman, who commended the
girl for calmly answering her questions in the courtroom.
"I thought she was tremendous," Rudman said. "She's very young. In terms
of her taking the stand and being able to speak, it was just
tremendous."
New Bedford Police Detective Christopher Cotter, the lead investigator in the case, said he was
impressed with the girl's resiliency in facing her former baby-sitter.
"I'm very, very proud of her," Cotter said. "I can't say enough. She's a beautiful girl. She's going to be OK."
The girl has undergone two reconstructive surgeries that have improved the
condition of her upper lip, though it remains scarred. She lives with
her brother and maternal grandparents in New Hampshire and is enrolled
in kindergarten.
She occasionally sees Silveira, her mother, who is scheduled to stand trial in March.
Silveira allegedly tried to cover up the abuse by lying about when the
girl suffered her injuries as well as the true identity of "Daddy Bryan."