"A
20-month old Marshall girl didn't die from a fall or minor traffic
crash, a pathologist testified Friday in the Anthony Ball murder trial. Dr.
Brandy Shattuck, a Calhoun County Deputy Medical Examiner, said
significant force was used to cause the injury to the brain of Athena
Ramey. The child was admitted to Bronson Methodist Hospital on Dec. 18, 2014, and pronounced dead the next day. Ball,
30, is the boyfriend of the child's mother and was caring for the
toddler and his own two daughters when he said he was unable to wake the
little girl. He took her to the adult foster care home where her
mother, Brianna Richards, was working and then she was taken to the
hospital. Shattuck
said she conducted the autopsy three days after the child was
pronounced brain dead and after her organs were harvested for the Gift
Of Life program. Her testimony came on the fourth day of
the jury trial before Calhoun County Circuit Judge John Hallacy. Ball is
charged with felony murder and first degree child abuse and faces life
in prison without parole if convicted. The prosecution completed its
case and the defense is expected to begin calling witnesses on Tuesday. Shattuck,
like other doctors who testified, said the damage to the brain was so
severe that the child would have shown immediate symptoms. Ball told
investigators he was rocking the little girl and laid her on a futon
while he went to make dinner and then returned about 90 minutes later to
find her unconscious. Other witnesses said the girl was
acting normally during the day before her injury and during the previous
several days. She was declared uninjured by her family doctor after a
car driven by her grandfather was struck by a deer three days earlier. Shattuck
classified the death as a homicide after learning that Athena Ramey was
normal earlier in the day and unresponsive that afternoon."
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/local/2016/12/09/pathologist-rules-out-minor-injuries-were-fatal-toddler/95217860/