Jury begins deliberating in Poutre child abuse case

By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff

SPRINGFIELD - Twelve jurors began deliberations this afternoon in the child abuse case of Haleigh Poutre's stepfather, Jason Strickland, but recessed after about an hour without reaching a verdict.

They will resume tomorrow deciding whether they believe the 34-year-old auto mechanic who told them under oath last week that he never hurt Haleigh and had assumed her many bruises, cuts and burns were from accidents or her own doing.

Strickland is accused of causing a near-fatal brain injury that put Haleigh into a coma in September 2005, and, at one time, in the middle of an end-of-life controversy.

A verdict is not expected today because the jury did not start deliberating until aroumd 3:30 p.m. and they have nearly three weeks of testimony to review, as well as dozens of photographs, exhibits and forensic reports.

Strickland faces six counts of assaulting Haleigh, the most serious of which carries a maximum 15-year prison term if he is convicted. He could also be convicted of a lesser charge, which is knowing about others abusing Haleigh but failing to protect her.

In a surprise development, defense lawyers were pleased this morning when word came that a young male juror, a tow truck operator, allegedly told a Palmer bartender this past weekend that the jury panel had concluded that the stepfather was innocent, and that "the mother did it." The prosecution sought to exclude that juror, even when he denied making those comments when confronted today by Hampden County Superior Court Judge Judd Carhart. The judge chose to keep the juror after interviewing everyone else on the jury panel and each denied ever discussing the case with anyone else.

During closing statements late this morning, jurors heard two sharply contrasting images of Strickland, who was married to Haleigh's adoptive mother, Holli Strickland.

Prosecutor Laurel Brandt portrayed the couple as severely abusing Haleigh over a five-year period, culimating in her traumatic brain injury. She said that the couple created a "cover story" when they brought the unconscious and battered 11-year-old to an emergency room on Sept. 11, 2005, telling medical staff the girl had inexplicably become unresponsive after coming down with the flu.

"The flu excuse was for the outside world," Brandt told jurors who listened intently. "They were both in on it."

The prosecutor referred to Holli Strickland as now dead, though jurors have not been told that she died in an apparent murder-suicide with her grandmother, shortly after police arrested the Stricklands for child abuse in 2005.

"Her death does not excuse his crime," Brandt said, referring to Jason Strickland. "He is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

Defense attorney Alan Black, however, depicted Jason Strickland as a "gentle" father figure in the family's Westfield home, a man who even had a special heart for the girl. Black said the stepfather is being unjustly held criminally responsible for horrific injuries to Haleigh that had nothing to do with him.

Black said he knows many jurors might be thinking, "How could he be in the house and not know what was going on?" However, in response, Black reminded jurors that Strickland worked long hours and was told by his wife that Haleigh had a psychological condition causing her to hurt herself.

When Strickland took the stand last Friday, he said he had noticed many injuries on Haleigh, but believed his wife's account about Haleigh's self-abuse, or that some bruises and burns were accidents. Though Haleigh was a stepdaughter who he had never legally adopted, he said he treated her as if she were his own child.

The defense has suggested that if anyone in the house hurt Haleigh, it was his wife, who kept her abusive ways hidden from Jason Strickland, as well as from the many doctors and therapists who saw the girl and diagnosed her with self-abusive behavior.

Black said the prosecution's case is based largely on innuendo and theories, but little testimony that connects the stepfather to Haleigh's injuries that September weekend in 2005. He said that prosecutors have unfairly linked pictures of cigarette burns on Haleigh's body when she arrived at the hospital in 2005 to the fact that the stepfather is a smoker. Black also said the government has wrongly connected photographs of a large burn wound on Haleigh's chest to Strickland's heat gun, which he used in his repair business.

"There's a lot of conjecture," Black said. "A lot of 'I guess that happened.' "

Strickland's defense attorney called on jurors to decide the case "without passion and without emotion." He said that if jurors conclude, "I think he did it, but I'm not sure," that is not enough to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt.

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

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