NEW BOSTON, Texas -The state rested its case Thursday afternoon in the trial of a mother accused of failing to protect her murdered 4-year-old from his father.
Khadijah Wright, 26, faces five to 99 years or life in prison if found guilty of injury to a child by omission in the March 2018 death of her son, D'Money Lewis. D'Money's father, Benearl Lewis, 25, is serving a life sentence assessed him last year by a different Bowie County jury for murder.
Dallas lawyer Jasmine Crockett is expected to deliver an opening statement and call witnesses in support of the defense beginning Friday morning.
A jury of six men and six women heard testimony Thursday from a friend of Wright's who worked side by side with her for months at a local manufacturing plant. Mary Popkiss testified under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards that Wright often spoke of Child Protective Services' involvement in her life.
Lewis was not to be alone with the children unless supervised by Wright and was not permitted to spend the night in the home with them.
Popkiss described Wright as an outspoken person who "will state her own opinion." Popkiss said Wright talked of how she routinely lied to CPS personnel by claiming Lewis was not living in the home when he was and of how he would hide in the house if a CPS worker came to the door to perform a home visit.
"She said as long as they don't know, they won't investigate," Pokiss said.
Popkiss said Wright never spoke of being abused by Lewis and said Wright talked of the couple's plans to marry. Popkiss said Wright left her factory job in a hurry during the 2 p.m. break March 6. Popkiss said she and Wright exchanged text messages later in the day in which Wright claimed D'Money fell from a chest freezer in the home and was in a coma.
Pediatrician Karen Farst, who specializes in child abuse, testified that she interviewed Wright and Lewis briefly at Children's Hospital in Little Rock after D'Money was airlifted there for a brain death test March 6. Farst said that D'Money's injuries were so severe and pervasive the medical team treating him determined he would not survive. Farst said the account given her for D'Money's grave condition just didn't make sense.
"The explanation of the fall from the freezer did not account for the totality or severity of the injuries," Farst said.
Farst said that the head injury D'Money suffered caused bleeding and pressure in his brain which caused it to herniate into his spinal cord. While D'Money might not have been rendered immediately unresponsive, it would have been apparent something was wrong, Farst said.
Medical Examiner Candace Schoppe testified under questioning from First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp that D'Money's injuries were not limited to his brain. D'Money's pancreas, kidney, liver and other tissues were damaged and bruised by blunt force trauma as well, Schoppe said.
As photos of D'Money's body in various stages of autopsy were played for the jury, Wright became visibly upset and left the courtroom. She did not return until Schoppe's testimony ended.
Schoppe pointed out old scars on D'Money's head and face, strap marks on his inner thighs and bruising to his back which she found "suspicious" and likely the result of abuse. D'Money was hospitalized in August 2013 with a brain bleed when he was just a 4-month-old, witnesses testified. Texarkana, Ark., Detective Jason Haak testified Wednesday that no arrests were made in that case because several adults, including Benearl Lewis, had access to D'Money when the injury occurred.
Schoppe testified that D'Money likely slipped into unconsciousness quickly after suffering the massive head injury which ended his life, making it unlikely he jumped or fell from a chest freezer afterward, when questioned by Crockett.
While Wright's co-worker testified that Wright hastily left work at about 2:15 p.m. March 6, 2018, it wasn't until about two hours later that she and Benearl Lewis sought medical attention for D'Money. Texarkana, Texas, Police Officer Brent Hobbs testified that he was working a car accident in the 4400 block of West 7th Street at about 4:30 p.m. when Benearl Lewis approached his patrol car and said he had a child who wasn't breathing.
Hobbs said he immediately called back fire and paramedics who were leaving the accident scene. Paramedics were able to restore D'Money's pulse but he required a ventilator to breathe, never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at a Little Rock hospital two days later.
Interim Wake Village, Texas, Police Chief Todd Aultman testified that he was contacted shortly after D'Money was transported to a Texarkana hospital. Aultman testified as a photograph of the chest freezer, which he measured at 34 inches high, was shown for the jury along with a photo of a smashed in area of wall close to the floor in the residence where D'Money lived on Redwater Road in Wake Village.
Aultman also described finding copies of the Child Protective Services safety plan which prohibited Benearl Lewis from being unsupervised with the children or spending the night in the home. Also photographed was a belt, folded over and lying on top of the family's dining table.
Aultman testified that he interviewed Wright at his office March 8. D'Money had been pronounced dead and her three other children had been taken into custody by child welfare officials.
In a recording of the interview played for the jury, Wright states that she was home and witnessed D'Money falling from the freezer. Wright struggles to explain why she - the family's breadwinner - rushed home from work in the middle of her shift in response to a text from Benearl Lewis which she said stated, "I messed up."
Wright and Aultman discussed statements allegedly made by Wright's oldest son, a 6-year-old when D'Money died. The boy allegedly told his grandmother and a forensic interviewer at the Children's Advocacy Center that his father threw D'Money into a wall.
In the interview with Aultman, Wright denies that she fears Benearl Lewis and admits to violating the CPS safety plan. Wright claims in the interview that Benearl Lewis was supposed to drop the children off at her mother's house after she went to work. Aultman testified that Wright's mother lived on the same street as Wright, just a few blocks away, and that Wright could have left the youngsters there on her way to work.
At the end of the recorded interview, Aultman asked Wright to show him the text message in her phone from Benearl Lewis. As Aultman looks in the phone, Wright becomes belligerent, takes the phone and storms out of the office.
Under cross examination by Crockett, Aultman acknowledges that Wright had just experienced the death of a child.
The defense is expected to begin presentation of its case Friday morning before 5th District Judge Bill Miller at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston.