Nussbaum to Testify Against Steinberg

Nussbaum to Testify Against Steinberg

By RONALD SULLIVAN

LEAD: Hedda Nussbaum will be called as the key prosecution witness and asked why she waited 10 hours before calling an ambulance after Joel B. Steinberg handed her the comatose body of Lisa Steinberg, the 6-year-old child he is accused of beating to death, the prosecution said yesterday.

Hedda Nussbaum will be called as the key prosecution witness and asked why she waited 10 hours before calling an ambulance after Joel B. Steinberg handed her the comatose body of Lisa Steinberg, the 6-year-old child he is accused of beating to death, the prosecution said yesterday.

The judge in the case, Acting Justice Harold J. Rothwax, ruled that the prosecutors could, in their opening statement today, explain to the jury why Ms. Nussbaum made ''no immediate outcry.'' The prosecutors contend Ms. Nussbaum was so physically abused by Mr. Steinberg over many years, and her behavior so compromised by drugs, that she feared for her life and was incapable of taking any action to save the child.

''Hedda Nussbaum is the single most important witness in this trial,'' said Justice Rothwax, explaining his ruling on a pretrial motion without the jury present. ''She is crucial and central to the case,'' the judge said. ''She is the only one who can give an account of what went on in that apartment.''

Peter Casolaro, an assistant district attorney, said he would argue that in their relationship, Mr. Steinberg was ''dominant'' and Ms. Nussbaum ''subservient,'' and that the jury must be allowed to ''understand some of the strange aspects of her behavior on the night of the murder.'' 'Contrary to Human Behavior'

Ira D. London, Mr. Steinberg's lawyer, argued that any evidence of physical or drug abuse involving Mr. Steinberg and Ms. Nussbaum, his long-time companion, would undermine his defense.

Justice Rothwax, however, said that if the prosecutors disclosed to the jury that Ms. Nussbaum took no action to save Lisa's life, the jury would have the right to have the long delay and ''her state of mind'' explained.

''Her action was so contrary to human behavior and difficult to comprehend,'' Justice Rothwax said, ''that the prosecution should be allowed to offer some explanation so that they can present her as a credible witness.''

The prosecution charges that Mr. Steinberg beat Lisa to death in the Greenwich Village apartment he shared with Ms. Nussbaum. Died from Blow to Head

Justice Rothwax said Ms. Nussbaum, who will not be prosecuted, has told prosecutors that Mr. Steinberg handed her the lifeless body of Lisa on the night of Nov. 1, 1987, then left the apartment to dine with a friend.

At 6:38 the next morning, Ms. Nussbaum called an ambulance and Lisa was taken by the police and paramedics to St. Vincent's Medical Center, where doctors said she was ''brain dead'' from a sharp blow to the head.

Mr. Steinberg contends that Lisa was ''fine'' when he went out to eat and that she became ill after eating vegetables. He said her injuries may have been sustained while she was being resuscitated or in the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on Nov. 5. A Special Agreement

Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for Dr. Beverly Leffers, the Acting Chief Medical Examiner, said a medical examiner was called to Lisa's hospital bedside on Nov. 3, two days before she was pronounced dead, under provisions of a rarely invoked agreement between the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, to assure that medical and forensic evidence is not altered or disturbed in a case in which murder charges may later be brought.

Law-enforcement officials said the agreement stemmed in part from forensic confusion and admitted mistakes by the Medical Examiner's Office in the case of Michael Stewart, a subway graffiti artist who died 13 days after he was injured while being arrested by transit police officers in 1983.

Two years later six transit officers were acquitted of charges they beat Mr. Stewart to death. The jury said the prosecution's medical testimony and forensic evidence were so confusing it clouded its assertion that Mr. Stewart died at the hands of the police.

Officials in Mr. Morgenthau's office said that when the police were notified that Lisa Steinberg had been hospitalized and might be the victim of a homicide, they requested the Medical Examiner to move quickly to make certain medical evidence was preserved.