Soldier acquitted of causing son’s death 10/21/09

One Innocent out of Thousands Received Justice!


Soldier acquitted of causing son’s death



Oct 21 2009 12:00AM By Melissa Braun Sun Staff Writer


It took three hours of deliberation and a “not guilty” verdict to pull a Fort Rucker soldier from what he described as the “hell” of his life for the past year.

Spc. Dedrick Fisher walked away Thursday night as a free man.

A Fort Rucker court-martial panel Oct. 15 found Fisher not guilty of all charges related to the death of his son Dedrick Jr.

Fisher was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and the lesser-included charges of negligent homicide and battery of a child under the age of 12.

Fisher had been under watch by Army officials after his infant son, Dedrick Jr., died at Dale Medical Center in Ozark Feb. 2 as a result of injuries he sustained three months earlier.

At that time, Fisher was accused of shaking his infant son, which caused several brain and retinal hemorrhages that resulted in his death.

A court-martial panel convened Oct. 13 to determine Fisher’s future in the United States Army and whether he would be a free man.

For almost two days, government prosecutors called witnesses who presented evidence that Fisher had lost his temper and turned his aggression on his son.

With his head bowed and making little eye contact, he listened as military police and doctors describe the trauma he allegedly inflicted on his son.

He showed little reaction as investigators testified Fisher had even admitted to shaking his son, citing a written statement where Fisher said, “My son is damn near dead because of me.”

After two days of listening to evidence against him, Fisher took the stand and recalled the events in November of last year when his son’s health roller–coasted out of control.

Fisher said he was feeding his son when he began choking.

“I said, ‘You need to slow down,’” he explained, adding that when the child whined a second time he gave him the bottle again.

“He started choking bad,” Fisher said.

He testified that he patted his son on the back and then placed him on the couch.

He left the child to go into the kitchen, not realizing his child’s health was quickly deteriorating.

Moments later, his wife realized Dedrick Jr. was not breathing and his heart had stopped beating.

The next few hours, Fisher said, were “a blur.”

From finding medical help to seeing his wife in handcuffs as they were interviewed about what happened to their son, Fisher said his temper continued to rise.

“My wife was getting emotionally tortured over this, my daughter was at someone’s house I didn’t know, my child was in the hospital sick and I was like (thinking) they (investigators) are not going to let us out of here until they get what they want,” he said, adding that is the reason why he admitted to shaking his child when he didn’t. “I told her (Fisher’s wife) that when we got out of there we were going straight to Birmingham (to Children’s Hospital where the infant had been transferred) and we are going to PCS (request for transfer) out of this post.”

During questioning from the Judge Advocate General government prosecutors Capt. Christopher Coy and Capt. Shawn Tate, Fisher continued explaining what he had given a false confession to the alleged crime.

“He (military police investigator Chief Warrant Officer 3 Raymond Massey) kept on asking me the same questions over and over and I just gave him what he wanted to hear,” he said, adding that the confession changed his life. “I look at all these folks giving their kids a yank like that (how he allegedly picked up his child) and look at me, going through all this and I didn’t even do nothing.”

After three days of testimony from Fisher, law enforcement and medical personnel the verdict ultimately hinged on expert testimonies.

Dr. Ronald H. Uscinski, a world-renowned neurosurgeon from Georgetown and an expert witness for the defense, testified that Fisher did not cause his child’s brain trauma.

“I do not believe that the findings on the diagnostic studies and histories indicate the child was injured on the day in question,” he said.

He said the infant, instead, died from brain trauma, a chronic subdural hematoma, he suffered at the time of his birth.

The injury, he further explained, was caused by overlapping sutures in the child’s brain that occurred as he was pushed through the birth canal and damaged a portion of his brain.

Symptoms of the injury manifested in Nov. 2008 –– the day Fisher went under investigation for abusing his son, Uscinski said.

Uscinski explained that through his work as a neurosurgeon he no longer believes in Shaken Baby Syndrome.

“It is against the laws of physics. Human beings cannot shake a baby hard enough to cause that kind of brain trauma,” he said. “You cannot shake a baby this size hard enough (to cause these internal injuries) without breaking its neck.”

Dedrick Jr. had no injuries to any bones including his neck.

The infant’s retinal hemorrhages, he said, could have been caused by an increase in blood pressure when the hematoma began to bleed once again, but also said they could have been caused by CPR pressure.

During his time as a neurosurgeon, Uscinski said he is also unaware of any situation in which the shaking of an infant was witnessed and also resulted in a subdural leak, which he says caused the death Dedrick Jr.

Prosecution witness Dr. Melissa Peters, of Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, testified that Dedrick Jr., did suffer isolated injuries in November that caused traumatic brain injury sever enough for him to live the last two months of his life connected to breathing and feeding tubes.

Peters said she first saw Dedrick Jr. while he was in the Intensive Care Unit.

Peters said the infant had bruises on his arm, suffered hemorrhages in two locations above the brain but inside the skull, and that he also had more than 50 multi-layered retinal hemorrhages consistent with shaking injuries.

As a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital, Peters said she is very familiar with injuries a child suffers as a result of being shaken.

“This child had evidence of severe head injury,” she said.

She also explained that the infant’s birth records signified a normal birth and that overlapping sutures are somewhat common.

In her examination of Dedrick Jr., Peters said her findings were “consistent with acute head trauma which could have involved shaking.”

His injuries were not consistent, she further explained, with normal child care or play.

Retinal hemorrhaging, she said, would not be expected from a subdural leak, despite Uscinski’s testimony otherwise.

Uscinski did not personally exam the child, but relied on tests results, including two CT scans.

Fisher’s attorney, Victor Kelley, asked the panel to weigh the experts’ testimonies and remember Uscinski specializes in neurology unlike Peter, who he called a “child advocate.”

“It is just not right to be here to begin with,” Kelley said. “If they (investigators) had gotten the right information (medical diagnosis) to begin with we wouldn’t be.”

He asked the panel to also remember that if there was any reasonable doubt in their heads about Fisher’s guilt, they must acquit.

Only a majority consensus of the six-member panel was needed for a verdict.