Clearwater Foster Mother Acquitted of Murder

A Pinellas County jury found former Clearwater foster mother Tenesia Brown not guilty this week of first-degree murder charges. Brown was accused of killing 3-year-old Lazon Gully, who died in 2008 after being in a vegetative state for over than two years. Prosecutors argued that Lazon died of shaken-baby syndrome.

Brown and her husband Marcus fostered Lazon and his older brother back in 2005 and 2006. They had custody of the boys for about four months while their mother completed drug treatment. On the afternoon of March 3, 2006, Tenesia Brown picked up 14-month-old Lazon from day care, after workers called to tell her that he was vomiting and had diarrhea. When Brown got him home, he stopped breathing.

Brown was initially charged with assault but the charges were upgraded after Lazon died in 2008.

There were no witnesses to any physical abuse but prosecutors argued that circumstantial and medical evidence showed Brown had caused catastrophic brain injuries to Lazon. They said Lazon suffered all the classic symptoms of shaken baby syndrome.

“The defendant was alone with the victim for the last 29 minutes of his life. The fact is, when he got to the hospital, he was nonresponsive, he was in cardiac arrest and he had a subdural hemorrhage,” Grissinger told the jury, “She killed him.”

The state’s case relied heavily on the testimony of Sally Smith, medical director of Pinellas County’s child protection team. Smith said Lazon suffered from bleeding beneath a layer around the brain called the dura, and also in his retinas. Both are signs of shaken baby syndrome, although the preferred term for the condition is now “abusive head trauma,” Smith said.

The trial last week lasted four days. The defense called several expert witnesses including Ronald Uscinski, a neurosurgeon affiliated with Georgetown and George Washington universities, who said he saw no evidence of abuse. “I don’t know that this child was a victim of head trauma at all,” Uscinski testified.

Prosecutors argued that Uscinski was paid to testify that shaken baby syndrome doesn’t happen. Like many defense expert witnesses (who are generally private consultants who are paid for their time and expertise but not the content of their testimony), Uscinski was paid a total of $12,000 to review and analyze records and testify in court.

Uscinski testified that after Lazon went into cardiac arrest, his brain was starved of oxygen for several minutes. Uscinski discussed images that showed the child’s brain shrank over time. This — and not shaking or other trauma — would have led to the bleeding around his brain, he said.

After about two hours of deliberation, the jury returned its unanimous verdict of not guilty. Brown had faced life in prison if convicted.