Adoptive mother gets life in prison

by Jennifer Brooks and Brian Haas

A former Mt. Juliet pediatrician accused of killing her newly adopted 4-year-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison after a jury Friday found her guilty of first-degree murder and abuse charges.

Deborah Wen-Yee Mark, 40, slowly shrunk in her seat as the jury foreman read the verdict from each charge. First-degree murder? Guilty. Four counts of aggravated child abuse? Guilty. Child Abuse? Guilty.

With each charge, she sank lower until her head was resting on the table where she sat and her shoulders heaved with silent sobs. Courtroom deputies had to help her stand and walk out of the room after she was given an automatic life sentence in prison for the first-degree murder conviction. She’ll be sentenced separately on the other charges at a later date.

Wilson County Assistant District Attorney Tom Swink praised the verdict. “Kairissa Mark received justice today,” he said.

Mark’s attorneys vowed an appeal, saying that hours of a recorded interrogation by police should not have been admitted. Defense attorney Jack Lowery Sr. said the confession was “coerced” and false.

“It’s a tragic case for the child; it’s a tragic case for the defendant,” Lowery said.

Mark wept often during the trial, particularly Friday as attorneys on both sides rehashed the brutal final months in Kairissa’s life. The Mark family adopted the child from China in spring of last year and by July 2, 2010, she was dead.

“For 83 days, (Kairissa) was bruised, she was battered, she was broken, she was scarred,” Swink said in his closing arguments. “And in the end … her tiny, 21-pound body was flung into this wall by the defendant.”

A projector flashed an autopsy photo on the courtroom wall: a heartbreakingly tiny girl, one eye blackened, bruised, swollen.

The little girl died from brain injuries suffered the night of June 30, 2010. Prosecutors say Mark tossed the little girl into a wall and left her, unresponsive and bleeding, on a mattress all night long. Mark’s attorneys insist her husband, Steven Mark, struck the fatal blow, earlier in the day when he was alone with the little girl.

The head injury killed Kairissa two days after she was admitted to the hospital. But an autopsy found she had suffered far more trauma during her time with the Marks. Thirteen broken bones. Scars and bruises on her nipples and inner thighs.

Deborah Mark told investigators that, frustrated by the child’s behavior, she had hit Kairissa with sticks, shaken her, pinched and twisted her nipples and thighs, and finally flung her into her bedroom wall.

“It wasn’t an accident. She was frustrated, and she took her frustrations out on this little girl,” Swink said.

Defense suggests husband responsible

Lowery invited the former pediatrician — a short, slim woman — to walk to the front of the courtroom and show the jury her hands.

“Look at her weight and her height. Look at her fingers and her hands … ask yourself if you believe she could throw a child against the wall” with force comparable to a drop from a second-story window, he said. He pointed to Mark’s husband as a likelier suspect.

“Ask yourself if she herself may be the victim of abuse and domination by her husband,” he said.

Testimony revealed Kairissa was a special-needs child who weighed barely 20 pounds and suffered from weakened legs and possible mental and developmental delays. She would act out

Deborah Mark’s defense team called more than a half-dozen character witnesses . All testified that she was a kind, compassionate doctor to other people’s children. None of the witnesses had ever met Kairissa.

Swink told the jury that when Kairissa came to the Mark family, she needed what every child needs: food, shelter, clothing and, most of all, love.

“She doesn’t need those things anymore,” he said. “What little Kairissa needs is the one thing you, the jury, can give to her, and that is justice.”

Prosecutors now will turn their attention to Steven Mark, who still faces four counts of aggravated child abuse and four more of child abuse. Swink said he doesn’t expect to try the case until next year.