4/20/11 Jury deliberations in Gresser case to continue

  • By Nick Sabo
  • April 20, 2011
  • 290
                        
SUMMARY: Gresser testifies in own defense, said wife caused fatal injuries After three and a half hours of deliberation in the murder trial of a Smithville man, a jury of six men and six women had some questions for the court. The jury received the case of Timothy Gresser, 22, 7934 Five Points Road, Wednesday in Wayne County Common Pleas Court after hearing testimony from Gresser and a forensic pathologist. Gresser testified that on the morning of Sept. 28, he came in from doing chores at 8:20 a.m. He was surprised to find that his wife, Katie Gresser, had left their 18-month-old daughter, Kali Gresser, alone in her crib in a second floor bedroom. She was laying on her stomach and she wasn’t her usual self, Gresser said. He became progressively concerned as Kali’s health seemed to get worse and finally called 911 at 3:27 p.m., after first calling Katie. Forensic pathologist Dr. Dorothy Dean, who performed the autopsy on Kali, testified that Kali had died from a blow to the right side of her head. A large bruise formed there over the course of an hour, a sign of a massive blow that caused fractures in her skull. In his closing arguments, Ohio Attorney General Prosecutor Paul Scarsella argued that Kali received the blow to her head shortly before Gresser called 911, citing medical evidence. Gresser’s attorney, John Johnson Jr., said the injuries were caused by Katie before she went to work Sept. 28, after dropping Kali off in the house. Gresser lied repeatedly to cover for Katie, even after he was arrested, Johnson said. The jury wanted to know if Kali would have survived her injuries if she had received medical care before 9 a.m. They wanted to know if Katie has been charged with anything. Kali died from her injuries Sept. 30 at Akron Children’s Hospital. Gresser parents, Irv and Karen Gresser, also testified Wednesday. Timothy Gresser testified that on Sept. 28, Katie had stopped by the house on Five Points Road with Kali at 7:10 a.m. They were there when he left to see to some dairy cattle on his father’s farm at 7:20 a.m. He found Kali in the house after returning from the farm, and noticed a bruise forming on her forehead. The bruising got worse, Gresser said, and as Kali became more lethargic, he called Katie at work at 3:15 p.m. to see what he should do. “I asked what happened to (Kali). (Katie) said don’t worry about it,” Gresser said. “I did as I was told.” Gresser was arrested Oct. 4 and, in several interviews with Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies, changed his story multiple times. Each time, he took the blame for Kali’s injuries, believing Katie had caused them. “I lied to protect someone...Katie (from) what I believe she had done,” Gresser said. “Killed our daughter.” “I loved (Katie) very much at the time,” he said. Gresser testified that Katie had complete control over him at least since they married in Feburary 2009, that he always did as she told him. After Kali was born, Gresser said, he and Katie’s relationship got “weird and sour”, and Katie told him when he could spend time with Kali. “When I was given permission to, I spent as much time with (Kali) as I could,” Gresser said. “I fed her, played with her.” Gresser said he felt Katie did not properly take care of Kali, but when he tried to intervene, “it always ended up in a fight”. Gresser said he saw Katie smack Kali several times. Two days before Sept. 28, Katie “toss(ed) Kali across the room”. Kali laid on the floor and screamed, and Gresser later came to believe Kali suffered a broken leg. He didn’t do anything about it because Katie told him Kali had a doctor’s appointment in three days. Gresser and Katie had been living off and on together for the last two months, he said, while in the process of moving from the house to a trailer. Katie did not spend the night at the house Sept. 27. Dean testified that the blow to the right side of Kali’s head was strong enough to cause internal bleeding. Kali showed complications from shaken baby snydrome, Dean said, and a fracture to her right femur was also caused by a strong blow. The blow to the head would have rendered Kali unconscious immediately, Dean said. Using autopsy photos, Dean showed the jury the after effects of the assault: A massive amount of clotted blood between the skin and skull, and fractures in the plates where Kali’s developing skull had not yet knit. Scarsella, in his closing statements, said the medical evidence irrefutably showed Kali received the blow shortly before 3:27 p.m. He said the proof was in testimony offered by the EMTs who tended Kali before transporting her to the hospital, both of whom testified they did not see any bruising. “(EMT) Connie Crawford said she had (Kali’s) head in her hands” to assist in CPR, Scarsella said. “Remember what they told you they observed when they got to the house that day. A bruise like that takes 15 minutes to one hour to form.” Common Pleas Judge Mark K. Wiest told the jury he had no answers for their questions. “You have heard the testimony of numerous witnesses in this case, you must make your decisions from that,” Wiest said. “We are not here to decide if someone else (killed Kali). We are only trying the case of the defendant, not Katie Gresser.” The jury was excused for the evening and will return resume deliberations today.


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