LOOKS AS IF MIMI MIGHT NOT TESTIFY

Author: RON AVERY, Daily News Staff Writer

The three-month-long murder trial of Mimi Rohrer is now in its closing stages with the question of whether the defendant will testify or remain silent still unresolved.

The wife of banker and Haddon Township Mayor William Rohrer has said in the past that she wanted to take the witness stand to tell her story about the death of her adopted son, Billy.

But there are indications that the trial may end next week without Rohrer's testimony. The trial is in recess until Monday, when arguments will be held on whether her 11-year-old daughter, Laura, can testify for the defense.

Both Laura and Billy were orphans from El Salvador, adopted by the Rohrers in 1975. The boy died of a brain hemorrhage about three months after the adoption.

Mimi Rohrer has been charged with the boy's murder through "a pattern of child abuse."

The defense strategy has been to show the boy was hyperactive and often banged his head against objects.

Yesterday, Dr. Raphael Ruiz, a pediatrician from El Salvador, said he believed Billy suffered from brain damage caused by malnutrition and inadequate care before and after his birth.

While Ruiz never saw the boy, he examined his medical records, spoke with his natural mother and worked at the hospital where Billy was born in San Salvador.

Ruiz said he reached his conclusion based on the age of Billy's mother - 37 - and the fact that she had 10 previous pregnancies, including two miscarriages.

He said the woman had a "high-risk profile" for giving birth to a child with a "minimal brain dysfunction."

Ruiz said the boy weighed 5 pounds at birth, indicating to Ruiz that he was malnourished. He continued to grow at a below-normal rate, Ruiz said.

The pediatrician said his experience showed that at least 90 percent of children born in El Salvador with a similar low birth weight will have minimal brain damage.

In the United States, good postnatal care will often "compensate" for any brain damage suffered by low-weight babies, he added.

He said this type of brain damage produces hyperactivity and an inability to concentrate. "They have an urge to run around and they bang into things, but they adapt to the pain," he said.

Several defense witnesses said Billy would bang his head on objects and seem to show no pain while he lived with the Rohrers.