Doctor: Child fatally abused

Press-Enterprise, The (Riverside, CA)

November 5, 2003

COURT: The county's chief forensic pathologist says Andrew Ibarra's injuries were from blunt force.

Author: MIKE KATAOKA; THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

RIVERSIDE

The doctor who performed an autopsy on Andrew Ibarra testified Tuesday that the malnourished toddler suffered numerous blows that led to a disturbing conclusion:

The child had been abused to death.

Dr. Joseph Cohen, Riverside County's chief forensic pathologist, described every scrape, bruise, fracture and other injuries he found on the victim's body while prosecutor Michael Hestrin showed corresponding photos to the jury.

Hestrin then rested his case against Cynthia Marie Jackson, a 39-year-old Riverside woman who is charged with murdering Andrew one month shy of his second birthday while she was his foster mother. She also is charged with abusing six other foster children in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

The defense opens its case today in Riverside County Superior Court and Jackson will not testify, said co-defense lawyer Peter Scalisi.

After Andrew died July 19, 2000, Jackson told police that he had fallen from a park slide the day before.

Hestrin asked Cohen if the multiple injuries, including a fractured rib that started to heal and an internal one-inch puncture to the stomach wall, could have been caused by a fall from 8 to 10 feet.

"No, it's absurd based on my findings in conjunction with the circumstances portrayed to me," Cohen said.

The pathologist determined the cause of Andrew's death to be fatal child abuse syndrome, a relatively new classification.

"What it means is injuries and/or neglect over time caused the death of a child," he said.

"It's hard to pinpoint one specific reason."

Cohen said the bruises, scrapes and other injuries to Andrew's body were caused by blunt force and reflect as many as 25 separate blows.

The fractured rib, he said, is an injury most often associated with abuse because it is typically caused by squeezing the torso.

The autopsy further found signs of wasting muscles and blood abnormalities pointing to malnutrition, Cohen said.

Two other toddlers under Jackson's foster care when Andrew died also exhibited similar symptoms, prosecution witnesses testified. One boy had a fractured rib and was malnourished, and his younger brother was bruised and malnourished, they said.

Hestrin also presented evidence that one other foster child broke his leg and another broke his arm while they lived with Jackson in her Via San Jose home, which several witnesses described as immaculate.

Riverside County officials acknowledged, after Andrew died, that due to a communications breakdown, social workers had placed foster children in Jackson's home unaware that other children had been removed amid suspicions of abuse.

Scalisi spent only a few minutes cross-examining Cohen on Tuesday. Outside court, the defense lawyer said there's "no question (Andrew) was severely abused. The question is who did it."

Prosecutors did not charge the only other adult in the home, Jackson's husband, Jeffrey, with any crime. They decided that Cynthia Jackson took full charge of watching the children while her husband worked long hours outside the home.

Scalisi said he plans to call his client's relatives and a neighbor to testify on her behalf.

Caption:

The prosecutor rested his case against Cynthia Marie Jackson, pictured, on Tuesday. She is charged with murdering Andrew Ibarra