NEW BOSTON, Texas-The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on a Texarkana toddler whose death is at issue in a Bowie County murder trial is expected to take the stand today.
Michael Darius Moore, 26, is accused of inflicting fatal injuries to KaDerious King while his mother was working at a local restaurant Nov. 21, 2015. Opening statements and testimony from the first of the state's witnesses began Wednesday morning before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell and a jury of seven men and five women.
"Two years, nine months and 10 days. That's how old KaDerious was when he lost his life," Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter said in her opening remarks. "The state has to show who, what, where and when. What's in dispute is who and what."
First Assistant Public Defender Will Williams told the jury the state is attempting to turn an accident into a crime, describing his client as truthful and fully cooperative.
Texarkana, Texas, Police Officer Jeremy Courtney testified he arrived at the house on Waterall Street in Texarkana, Texas, where KaDerious lived with his mother and 3-year-old big sister within minutes of a 911 call from Moore, under questioning from First Assistant District Attorney Mike Shepherd. Courtney said Moore was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher receiving instructions on how to perform CPR when he entered the home.
Moments later emergency medical technicians with the Texarkana Fire Department and LifeNet paramedics in an ambulance arrived, Courtney said. Courtney said Moore told him KaDerious had eaten too much pizza and begun to vomit and that Moore told him he had "slipped and fallen four or five times" while holding the boy.
Courtney testified he thought it was odd that he saw no plates or pizza box in the house and noted that vomit present in different areas of the living room appeared to be well-digested and not what one would expect if someone began vomiting because they were choking on food they had just eaten. Courtney testified that he passed the information he collected from Moore and his observations to detectives after the child was transported via ambulance to Wadley Regional Medical Center where he died.
Texarkana, Texas, Police Officer Mark Shermer said he arrived at the house after KaDerious had been loaded into an ambulance. Shermer said he saw no evidence of a pizza dinner and thought it was odd that Moore told the officers that if there was bruising on the child it could be because Moore had slipped and fallen several times while holding him.
Donna Berry, a LifeNet paramedic, testified KaDerious was not breathing and had no pulse when she arrived at the house. She said KaDerious was lying on the living room floor naked and that Moore told her he had put the child in a bath because he would not stop vomiting after stuffing too much pizza in his mouth. Berry said she checked the boy's mouth and found no chunks of food or other object obstructing the airway and that the spots of vomit she could see in the living room appeared well-digested, not recently chewed.
Courtney and Shermer testified that department policy concerning seriously ill or injured children led them to treat the home as a crime scene and to contact investigators. Crime Scene Analyst Spencer Price testified as photos of vomit were shown to the jury. The substance could be seen in several spots on the living room floor, on the bathroom floor, in the toilet and in the bathtub. Price said he did not see water on the floors.
Price testified as photos of KaDerious' lifeless body, taken at the hospital shortly after death was pronounced, were displayed in the courtroom. Price said he took a close shot of a large knot on the child's forehead. Price also focused on bruising on the boy's shoulder and side of his head.
Retired Detective Daphne Stiles testified that Moore and KaDerious' mother told her the knot on the boy's head had occurred days before he became ill. Stiles said Moore told her the injury had occurred on a different day than the mother told her and that Moore gave other conflicting statements. KaDerious' mother, Alicia Carter, said Moore had watched her children the Friday evening before and told her the boy fell from a chair in the kitchen onto the tile, bumping his head. Alicia Carter said KaDerious had thrown up previously after stuffing his mouth with food when he wanted to finish eating and play with his sister.
Alicia Carter testified she and Moore had been dating for about four months when KaDerious died. She told the jury she had started letting Moore watch her children when her mother was unavailable to do so and that Moore's 3-year-old daughter at times would be at the house as well, playing with her daughter of the same age.
KaDerious' maternal grandmother, Karmen Harper, testified that her grandson was a quiet child who was easy to babysit. Harper said KaDerious was perfectly healthy when she kept him the weekend before his death.
Testimony is expected to continue this morning at the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston. If convicted of felony murder, Moore faces five to 99 years or life in a Texas prison.