Girl gives dramatic details in abuse case

Says parents used corporal punishment

Haleigh Poutre, now 14, spoke with simple words and gestures in a December interview.

Haleigh Poutre, a 14-year-old girl once diagnosed as being in an "irreversible vegetative state," has provided police with dramatic testimony about frequent use of corporal punishment during her childhood, but she has not given any specifics about what caused her to suffer a near-fatal head injury more than two years ago, according to two people with direct knowledge of her statements.

Haleigh, who has spent the last two years at a pediatric rehabilitation hospital in Brighton, communicated with simple words and hand gestures in an interview last December. She also spelled out full sentences by pointing to letters of the alphabet on a board, reflecting the remarkable recovery of a girl who nearly was removed from life support by the state after doctors had declared her condition hopeless. She began to breathe on her own just as the state's highest court ruled that she should be allowed to die.

Interviewed in her bedroom at Franciscan Hospital for Children, Haleigh communicated to investigators that her adoptive mother and stepfather, Holli and Jason Strickland, regularly used physical discipline, such as spanking her or slapping her in the face.

When asked about being hurt during her childhood, she did not directly say anything about the weekend in September 2005 when she lapsed into a coma. Prosecutors have described her adoptive mother as the harshest of her abusers, but Haleigh expressed to police largely fond feelings toward Holli Strickland, who took care of the girl since she was 4.

In another key development in the case, Haleigh's younger sister, Samantha Poutre, 11, has given police a new statement this year about how Haleigh suffered her traumatic brain injury, the sources said. She told police that Haleigh was kicked down the stairs in an episode involving Holli and Jason Strickland. Samantha had previously told police that Haleigh may have hurt herself practicing a back flip and accidentally hitting her head on a basement pipe, defense lawyers have said.

It remains unclear if and how the prosecution or defense would use these statements from the two girls. The veracity of testimony by children is often questioned.

The defense lawyer for Jason Strickland has already indicated in court papers that he may question Haleigh's mental competence because of her brain injuries. Springfield lawyer Alan Black, who is representing Jason Strickland, did not respond to phone calls yesterday.

The sources, who agreed to provide general characterizations of Haleigh's statements, declined to be named because they are not authorized to disclose information about the girl's interview with police.

Prosecutors are preparing for a fall trial in one of the state's most horrific child abuse cases, one made even more disturbing by the state's repeated failures to protect Haleigh.

On Sept. 11, 2005, Holli and Jason Strickland brought Haleigh, who was bruised and unconscious, to the emergency room of Noble Hospital in Westfield, saying she had become unresponsive after suffering flulike symptoms. Within two days, the Department of Social Services took custody of the couple's two other children, and a week later the couple was criminally charged in connection with Haleigh's traumatic brain injuries.

But now the only defendant is the stepfather. In a bizarre twist, Holli Strickland, within a day of being released on bail, died of gunshot wounds in an apparent murder-suicide with her grandmother. Police believe the grandmother shot Holli Strickland, then herself. Holli Strickland, 33, left behind suicide notes, reportedly proclaiming her innocence and her devastation that her children were taken from her by DSS.

Prosecutors say, however, that Holli Strickland was as brutal in her abuse as she was masterful in her deception. Throughout much of Haleigh's childhood, Haleigh came to school with bruises and burn marks, which prompted more than a dozen complaints of child abuse to the Department of Social Services.

But social workers and ultimately nearly everyone who knew the family came to accept the adoptive mother's explanation that Haleigh suffered from an unusual psychological disorder causing her to injure herself. Few suspected that Holli Strickland, who was biologically Haleigh's maternal aunt, would do anything to harm the girl.

Holli Strickland was seen in the local Westfield community for years as a saintly figure who adopted her troubled niece, not a villainous child abuser, neighbors and relatives say.

Samantha Poutre is now in the custody of her biological father, Jonathan Poutre. Holli and Jason Strickland's only shared biological child is Cody Strickland, now almost 5, who remains with foster parents who wish to adopt him. A juvenile court judge ruled within the past year to sever Jason Strickland's parental rights to Cody, paving the way for an adoption, but Strickland appealed the ruling. The Appeals Court heard arguments earlier this month in the case and has yet to rule.

In the Appeals Court argument, a lawyer for the Department of Social Services said that Strickland's parental rights should be severed because, among other reasons, he exposed his son to a home of physical violence and "failed to protect" Haleigh from life-threatening injuries. Other than Haleigh, there has been no evidence so far that either Holli or Jason Strickland seriously physically harmed Samantha or Cody, according to court records.

Strickland's lawyers have argued that he is unfairly being prosecuted for Haleigh's brutal injuries when he played only a minor role in the domestic life dominated by his wife. Strickland, a 34-year-old auto mechanic, was married to Holli for four years before the couple were criminally charged with child abuse. He faces several assault charges related to occasions in which he struck Haleigh with an open hand or used a plastic object.

Given that he lived in the home with Holli Strickland, he is also being charged with failing to stop her from inflicting violence on Haleigh.

Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com.