When 17-month-old Rhoda Wright was loaded onto a Life Flight helicopter to be whisked away to Primary Children's Medical Center, the toddler had a skull fracture about 4 inches long, fixed eyes, a limp body and needed an oxygen tube and mask to breathe.
After the child died three days later, the medical examiner said it was homicide.
And one hospital medical expert said Rhoda would have had to fall from a building more than two stories high to suffer such injuries.
Both experts testified Wednesday in 3rd District Court that a baby-sitter's story of the girl getting hurt after tipping over in a chair was "inconsistent" with the severity of the injuries.
Following a preliminary hearing, 3rd District Judge Randall Skanchy bound over the sitter, Michelle Afton Michaels, for trial in the child's death. The little girl was polygamist Paul Kingston's daughter.
Michaels has denied the charges and previously has said she is being persecuted "because of who I am," an apparent reference to her religious beliefs and lifestyle.
She is charged with child abuse homicide, a second-degree felony.
Dr. Kerrie Pinkney, a pediatric critical care fellow at Primary Children's Medical Center, said her observations of Rhoda after emergency surgery, as well as medical literature, do not bear out Michaels' story that the child got hurt that badly by falling about 2 feet onto a hard kitchen floor.
Pinkney said Rhoda would have to fall from a building two stories or even higher to sustain such severe injuries.
Rhoda suffered a fractured skull and swelling in the cerebellum, which is the lower back part of the brain that controls life functions. She also lost one tooth, had several loosened teeth and had nearly bitten through her tongue, which could be caused by a "recoil injury" following blunt force to the back of the head.
"It didn't fit with a simple fall of 2 feet," Pinkney said.
Under questioning from Michaels' lawyer, Carl Kingston, Pinkney said that Rhoda had no bodily bruises, indications of old or new broken bones or other injuries commonly associated with child abuse. But Pinkney said it is possible for a child abuse victim to have only the fatal injury.
Dr. Ed Leis, Utah's assistant medical examiner, said Rhoda suffered a complex skull fracture that roughly formed a Y-shaped crack. "Short falls do not account for the injuries of this child," he said. But under questioning from Kingston, Leis said he was aware that there is a school of thought that considers it possible for children to die from short-distance falls.
Leis said it was possible to sustain such an injury if someone were struck from behind with such objects as a board, a bat, a bowling pin or a pan.
Michaels told police that she was out of the room changing her baby's diaper when she heard a sound, then went to the kitchen and found Rhoda tipped over in the chair. Michaels told police she comforted the child, gave her Cheerios, milk and a Popsicle, and the child later vomited. Michaels said she later gave Rhoda some orange juice and became concerned when Rhoda started having trouble breathing, according to police.
But both Leis and Pinkney said someone with a head injury that severe would remain conscious for a very short time — and Pinkney said consciousness might remain for only a minute.
Michaels told Anita Bench, a South Salt Lake police officer, that she called the child's mother, her own sister and Paul Kingston and then 911. Bench said police searched the apartment for various objects including rolling pins, but these were not found.
Bench also said Michaels told her that Michaels found Rhoda face down astride the chair when she went to check the sound.
Bench said Michaels was "very quiet" during questioning and cooperated with police.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com