PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This story does not report cross-examination by Bowie's attorney - a legal tool provided to defendant's to test the witness's testimony in order to arrive at the truth. HL. As reporter Aimee Ambrose notes, the defence had not completed its cross-examination at the close of court yesterday.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Interest in the trial has been intense. At various points Friday, the trial was standing room only, with large contingents representing both Leah Mullinix and Tyree Bowie. Prosecutors allege Bowie caused the injuries which led to Dante’s death as he watched the child for about an hour and 40 minutes while Mullinix was at York Hospital to be seen for a migraine. The 43-year-old is on trial, charged with murder and child endangerment. The accusations are based on autopsy conclusions that Dante died from traumatic brain injury along with strangulation and suffocation. Prosecutors argued his injuries were so significant, his system would have shut down and he couldn’t have walked around after them. They must have occurred in the window of time Bowie had Dante alone with him. A defense expert disagreed with the cause-of-death finding. In his opinion, Dante died from accidental choking, which cut off oxygen to his brain and caused it to swell. Bowie told investigators that Dante choked on a Teddy Graham cookie he gave him while they were in his car, heading back to York Hospital to visit Mullinix. Before Leah Mullinix took the stand, a now-former Pennsylvania State Police scientist, Jessica Mulhollen, testified she found apparent cookie residue in trace evidence taken from a spot on Bowie’s jeans, steering wheel and door. Although Mulhollen was called as a prosecution witness, her testimony would appear to support the defense's argument. Bowie's attorney, Farley Holt, has argued Bowie scrambled to get the mess out of the toddler’s throat and tried to get him breathing again in the driver’s seat. With Dante unconscious, Bowie rushed him back to the hospital. Medical staff there got him breathing again, and then opted to have him airlifted to Hershey Medical Center for further care. Dante stayed on a respirator for nine days before dying."
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STORY: "Mother denies causing injuries that led to 2-year-old Dante Mullinix's death," by Reporter Aimee Ambrose, published by The York Dispatch, on December 22, 2022.
GIST: "The mother of Dante Mullinix denied she beat, strangled or injured him the night he went to the hospital unconscious and never woke up again.
Leah Mullinix also told a jury Friday she didn’t see fresh, serious bruising on her 2-year-old son’s head, to his lower jaw and throat, and body before the last time she saw him in 2018.
“Did you see those on Dante at all on September the 6th up to the point in time when you left him when you went into the hospital?” First Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker asked.
“No,” Mullinix replied, through tears.
Then, following a series of related questions, Mullinix blamed Tyree Bowie, her “kind-of boyfriend” at the time, for injuring Dante.
“Do they relate at all to you to leaving Dante in the defendant’s care?” Barker asked.
“Yes.”
Interest in the trial has been intense.
At various points Friday, the trial was standing room only, with large contingents representing both Leah Mullinix and Tyree Bowie.
Prosecutors allege Bowie caused the injuries which led to Dante’s death as he watched the child for about an hour and 40 minutes while Mullinix was at York Hospital to be seen for a migraine.
The 43-year-old is on trial, charged with murder and child endangerment.
The accusations are based on autopsy conclusions that Dante died from traumatic brain injury along with strangulation and suffocation.
Prosecutors argued his injuries were so significant, his system would have shut down and he couldn’t have walked around after them. They must have occurred in the window of time Bowie had Dante alone with him.
A defense expert disagreed with the cause-of-death finding. In his opinion, Dante died from accidental choking, which cut off oxygen to his brain and caused it to swell.
Bowie told investigators that Dante choked on a Teddy Graham cookie he gave him while they were in his car, heading back to York Hospital to visit Mullinix.
Before Leah Mullinix took the stand, a now-former Pennsylvania State Police scientist, Jessica Mulhollen, testified she found apparent cookie residue in trace evidence taken from a spot on Bowie’s jeans, steering wheel and door.
Although Mulhollen was called as a prosecution witness, her testimony would appear to support the defense's argument.
Bowie's attorney, Farley Holt, has argued Bowie scrambled to get the mess out of the toddler’s throat and tried to get him breathing again in the driver’s seat. With Dante unconscious, Bowie rushed him back to the hospital.
Medical staff there got him breathing again, and then opted to have him airlifted to Hershey Medical Center for further care.
Dante stayed on a respirator for nine days before dying.
New sets of bruises were seen on Dante’s lower jaw, his throat and his body, according to trial testimony.
Leah Mullinix, who’s also charged with child endangerment in the case, gave her account over more than four hours of questioning by the prosecution and Bowie’s defense Friday, the end of the trial’s second week.
She described the situation from her point-of-view that night, as well as events in the weeks and days leading up to Sept. 6.
Mullinix came to York County with Dante from Adams County in the summer of 2018. They were largely homeless and relied on new friends, including two members of the Latin Kings gang, for places to stay, according to her testimony.
The involvement of Latin Kings gang members came up during Holt's cross-examination of Leah Mullinix.
She met Bowie through Facebook that August, and she testified how he’d helped them buy food. They continued hanging out and grew close while Mullinix said she and Dante moved into a domestic abuse shelter downtown.
The morning of Sept. 2, she said York County Children, Youth and Families (CYF) staff took her and Dante to the hospital to seek medical care for a genital infection. She was prescribed antibiotics and ointment.
Medical staff noted bruises on Dante’s body. Mullinix initially denied seeing bruises on him then, but acknowledged in testimony Friday that her son had a couple on his head when Barker showed her photos.
The appointment came after a complaint was raised at the shelter about Dante crying constantly in pain.
Medical professionals initially believed the infection was balanitis, she said, but was later revealed to be herpes. Mullinix said she doesn’t have that infection.
The morning of Sept. 6, a Thursday, she and Dante went back to see a doctor for a follow-up appointment.
Then, after signing out from the shelter, she said she and Dante spent the day with Bowie running errands using Bowie’s car. They later went back to the apartment where Bowie was staying and watched a movie.
Dante seemed run down, Leah Mullinix recalled.
“He wasn’t really eating much at that time,” she said, blaming the genital infection. “He wasn’t feeling the greatest.”
She’d earlier noted he seemed to be walking differently, which she also attributed to the infection.
During the movie, Mullinix said she had a migraine that developed that afternoon was becoming unbearable.
The trio drove to York Hospital so she could be seen around 8:30 that night.
Bowie agreed to watch Dante in the meantime.
The two were seen walking into a Rutter’s gas station before heading back to his place, according to investigators.
Mullinix read text exchanges while on the stand between her and Bowie through Facebook Messenger.
At about 9 p.m. that night, Bowie messaged that Dante had fallen out of the car.
They spoke via video around 9:30, and Mullinix said she could see Dante and Bowie in what looked like his bedroom. She said she also noticed a scrape on his chin.
“It came from when he fell out of the car,” she testified. “All that I noticed was that new mark on his chin. That’s all I seen.”
Mullinix said Dante seemed calm at the time.
A half hour later, the situation changed.
Mullinix and Bowie started another video chat at about 10 p.m. She said Bowie told her Dante wasn’t breathing.
“I think he was out by 3rd Base on George Street,” she said, referring to a takeout place in York City.
Mullinix couldn’t see Bowie or Dante during the call because the video was dark.
“He said he stopped breathing and he had animal crackers,” she said. "I don’t remember entirely."
At the hospital, she said she spoke to a chaplain, an officer and medical staff, but didn’t relay what Bowie told her.
Barker asked Mullinix about the new injuries seen on Dante.
She denied causing them, crying more intensely with each question.
“Did you bite your son, Dante?” “No.” “Did you beat and strike your son Dante in the head?” “No.” “Did you place your hand around Dante’s neck?” “No. “Did you strangle him?” “No.” “Did you beat his back? Did you compress his chest?” “No.” “Did you cause those bruises, did you strike his groin?” “No.” “Did you strike his right knee?” “No.”
Her cross-examination by Bowie’s attorney wasn't completed when the court adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
The judge opted to send the jury home for the weekend, and he set the trial to resume Monday.
Leah Mullinix, 26, is also charged in the case, facing a felony count of child endangerment. Her next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 18, according to court records."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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