Federal prosecutors in the Naeem Williams capital murder trial presented their own medical expert to counter the claims of three defense experts who suggested that the former Schofield Barracks soldier was not the one who delivered the fatal blow to his 5-year-old daughter.
Williams, 34, is the only person to ever stand trial for a death penalty offense in the state of Hawaii.
He is accused in the July 16, 2005, child abuse beating of his daughter, Talia.
He testified that he struck Talia in the back, causing her to hit the back of her head on the concrete floor of their military family quarters at Wheeler Army Airfield. Talia never got up or regained consciousness and was pronounced dead hours later at Wahiawa General Hospital.
Mary Case, who is board certified in forensic pathology, neuropathology and anatomical pathology, told the U.S. District Court jury Wednesday that Talia "died as a result of a head injury."
Case is a full-time professor of pathology at St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri and full-time chief medical examiner of St. Louis County.
Her opinion matches the determination of cause of death made by forensic pathologist Dr. Kanthi De Alwis in 2005 when De Alwis performed the autopsy on Talia as Honolulu chief medical examiner.
De Alwis has testified that Talia died when the impact caused her brain to move within her skull, cutting off connections to the area of the brain that controls breathing. She is scheduled to retake the witness stand Thursday.
Williams’ lawyer presented three medical experts who offered different opinions on what killed Talia. One testified that Talia died from complications of head, chest and abdominal injuries. Another testified that Talia died from bacterial infection of her blood and infection to the back part of her abdominal cavity wall. A third said he couldn’t pinpoint which of Talia’s many injuries caused her death but joined the other two, who said there was not enough blood in Talia’s skull for a fatal head injury.
All three pointed to injuries that could have been caused by Talia’s stepmother, Delilah Williams, who testified that she stomped on Talia and slammed her stepdaughter’s head into a wall 17 days before Talia died.
Case said there is no evidence of infection to Talia’s blood or abdominal wall. She also said there doesn’t have to be a lot of blood in the skull of a person who dies when connections in the brain to vital functions are cut off.
