Eye expert testifies for Dittberner

By Steve Sharp of the Daily Times staff

JEFFERSON - An expert witness on Wednesday bolstered the defense of Todd Dittberner, the Watertown man charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of his infant son in 2004, by testifying it appeared the child's injuries were accidental.

Dr. Horace Gardner, 66, one of the country's foremost experts on the human eye, told the court he had studied a pathology of the eye trauma sustained by 6-month-old Riley Owen Bilke after the child's death in April, 2004.

Dittberner, who is Riley's father, was taking care of the boy and feeding him one day at a Cady Street home when he said the child suddenly stiffened up and fell off his lap to the floor. He said Riley landed on the top of his head. The boy later died at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee April 3, 2004.

Gardner told jurors Wednesday it was his opinion as an expert ophthalmologist that it would be impossible for a child to sustain the type of eye trauma Riley did if he was a victim of "Shaken Baby Syndrome," a common form of fatal abuse sustained by infants.

Gardner has also conducted extensive research into how the human eye reacts after a case of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Gardner said he conducted his study on the Bilke case after receiving the medical/pediatric records on the boy, as well as pathology slides of his eyes.

He said he determined that "all ocular findings are consistent with the account of the situation given by the father."

Bilke sustained retinal hemorrhaging - bursting or tearing of blood vessels in the eyes. Gardner stressed his belief that these injuries to the eyes could not come from shaking, but are more commonly associated with a person who is not receiving enough oxygen, or who has sustained brain swelling due to a blow to the head. Gardner then suggested this blood vessel damage could have been caused by a breathing tube that may have been inserted improperly during resuscitative efforts conducted on the child after he was injured.

"Of course you look at the possibility of abuse in a situation like this, but when a child comes in with Riley's type of injuries, then abuse is not the only way it could have happened," Gardner said. He added that, if Riley was dropped on his head, the pressure in his skull would likely rise, thus causing the type of retinal hemorrhaging found.

After questioning by the defense, Gardner faced cross-examination by Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Mike Schaefer.

"The shaken baby thing is inconsistent with Riley's injury to the top of his head," Gardner told Schaefer, adding that Riley's eyes had hemorrhaged in all of their layers and, in his experience, he has seen no documented examples of Shaken Baby Syndrome causing this.

Gardner, a medical doctor and former colonel in the military who became a lawyer in 1999 at age 60, also noted Riley was in poor health at the time of the incident.

"He was getting a small amount of (the mother's anti-depressant) medication through breast milk and he was on an inhaler. His health was unusual," Gardner said. Gardner also noted that Riley was also immunized around the time of the incident with Dittberner.

Following Gardner, Beth Nicholson, director of Kiddie Kampus Day Care and Preschool in Watertown, testified Riley spent a limited amount of time at the facility on the Maranatha campus during his six months of life. She described him as "part-time" there.

She said that, one week before his death, she fed the boy and it took him a long time to finish his bottle. She said he also "cried a lot," his lungs were "rattling." Previous testimony indicated the child had a history of bronchial problems.

"It seemed he was struggling to get air," Nicholson said. "This concerned me."

Wednesday afternoon's testimony followed Jefferson County Branch III Circuit Court Judge J.R. Erwin's denial of a defense request for a mistrial. The defense claimed the state unfairly compromised Dittberner's case by not sufficiently disclosing, in a timely manner, the mother, Amanda Bilke's, admission she used anti-depressant drugs while nursing Riley. Bilke testified Wednesday she took 50 milligrams of Zoloft per day within one month of Riley's death.

If convicted on the charge of first-degree reckless homicide, Dittberner, a repeat criminal with a previous conviction for forgery, could face more than 60 years in prison.

The case is scheduled to last into next week.