Both Richard and Beckie Burns strongly denied that the horribly emaciated infant depicted in the autopsy photographs was their son.
"If you ask me, no that is not Shawn. My son never looked like what is in these things," Richard Burns testified Wednesday.His wife also refused to acknowledge the child in the photograph was their dead 6-month-old son. "That did not look like him," she said.
The Burnses, charged with starving their baby to death, both said they dearly loved Shawn and agreed that had he been as emaciated as the child shown in the autopsy photos, they would have taken him to a hospital immediately.
A jury was to begin deliberations Thursday afternoon to decide whether the teenage couple is guilty of murder.
The couple individually testified that they fed Shawn at 11 p.m. just before he went to bed on the night before his death.
But assistant medical examiner Maureen Frikke earlier testified that the child's stomach was "essentially empty" when she performed an autopsy Aug. 5, the day after Shawn died. She testified that Shawn had not been fed for a day or two and was also dehydrated. "My impression . . . is that it takes a number of days of water deprivation to create dehydration in an infant," she said Wednesday.
Frikke also testified the photos were of Shawn Burns and said there should be no significant difference in the way the child appeared when he died and the time when the autopsy photos were taken the next day.
Yet three other family members also questioned the identity of the child, saying the body could not possibly be the Shawn they helped care for.
Murray police detective Mark Mehrer testified that Beckie Burns told him she and her husband were "partying" at a relative's house the night before Shawn died. Both had been drinking and Richard Burns had smoked marijuana.
But 3rd District Judge Frank Noel did not allow Mehrer to mention alcohol or marijuana use in front of the jury, agreeing with defense attorneys that such information would unfairly prejudice the jury. Prosecutor Rod Ybarra unsuccessfully argued that such details showed the "utter callousness" of the couple while their child was "wasting away" in the next room.
The couple socialized until 4 a.m. that night. Mehrer said Richard's sister woke Beckie up about 10:45 a.m. to tell her the child was not breathing. Paramedics arrived and took the infant to Cottonwood Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Janelle Euler testified she had concerns about the "sickly looking" child whenever Beckie brought Shawn to the fashion store where she worked with her and Richard's mother, Jean Burns. She said she saw the child two days before he died and believes he looked the same then as he did in the autopsy photographs.
"He just made a whimpering noise. He was very weak," she said.
She said she spoke with Beckie about feeding him more and said she never saw either parent with a bottle or even a diaper bag when they'd bring the Downs Syndrome infant into the store. Euler also recalled hearing Jean Burns complain that Richard and Beckie would sleep most of the day and was concerned about the baby being fed.
"She would be angry because she tried to call the house and (Richard) and Beckie were sleeping" until noon, Euler said. "She explained to me that the baby would sleep along with (Richard) and Beckie until they got up."
Euler also said she told Beckie about the Women Infant Children program that provides food for infants at no cost. She said Beckie had an appointment to go one day but missed it. She later explained she got tired of waiting after two hours.
But a former co-worker said Euler has a reputation for not telling the truth. Defense attorney Tom Rasmussen also questioned how concerned she was because Euler waited until January - after seeing reports of the preliminary hearing in the media - to contact investigators when the death occurred in August.
Jean Burns said the parents adored Shawn. "They showed nothing but love for this little boy." But she said Shawn was always a "skinny, frail little boy" who gained very little weight. She denied making statements about being angry that the couple slept in until late hours without feeding the baby.
Beckie Burns said she did not take the child to a doctor after May 23 because she hadn't received welfare medical cards for June and July and believed the doctor wouldn't see Shawn without one. She said she fought to get the cards but didn't get them until it was too late.
A state welfare worker testified the medical cards were canceled because the couple had not turned in the proper paperwork. The new cards were mailed out July 25 after new applications were processed.
But the child's mother said there was always food in the house and said she fed him every four to five hours. "I'd starve myself before I'd starve my kids."