Two Year Old May Have Killed Baby, Defense Attorney Suggests

By Robin Mero
The Morning News

BENTONVILLE -- A baby sitter's 2-year-old son may have dealt the blows that killed an infant in
March 2005, and not the baby sitter, a defense attorney suggested during the first day of a
murder trial Monday.

Attorney Drew Miller said he'll call the now-5-year-old son of Samantha Mitchell to testify. The boy
told his father that
his younger brother
hurt the baby, Miller
said. Samantha Mitchell cries Monday, Sept. 11, 2006 while walking to the Benton
County Courthouse Annex in Bentonville. Mitchell, accompanied by her
husband, is accused of murder in the death of a baby.
The surprise
J.S. Wedgeworth, The Morning News
defense was
revealed during opening statements of the first-degree murder trial against Mitchell, before
Benton County Circuit Judge David Clinger. If convicted, she could spend up to life in prison.

Mitchell was charged with murder on March 17, 2006, when 4-month-old Dominick Sanders was
removed from life support at Arkansas Children's Hospital after being declared brain dead. The
baby suffered brain swelling and bleeding that doctors said was consistent with being shaken.

Van Stone, chief deputy prosecutor, told a 9-man, 3-woman jury that he'll call a number of doctors
to testify about a "constellation of injuries" that are seen only when a baby is in a high-velocity car
accident, has fallen from multiple stories or is violently shaken.

"The amount of force makes it clear that Samantha Mitchell knew what she was doing," Stone
said.

Mitchell sobbed through hours of the trial Monday. She stared at the table before her, flanked by
her attorneys, while her shoulders heaved and she mopped her eyes with tissue.

Miller described his client as an insulin-dependent diabetic who weighed 240 pounds at arrest.
"She is not a delicate flower," he said.

The baby's parents were first to testify.

Reggie and Shawnese Sanders met at the University of Southern Mississippi, then married and
had a daughter, now 5. They moved to Northwest Arkansas in 2000 after Reggie was hired by an
architectural firm.

Dominick Sanders was born at St. Mary's Hospital in November 2004 and grew into a chunky,
healthy baby, full of life and with a generous appetite, his parents testified.

"It was going to be a challenge, raising a boy," said Reggie, 31, a towering, husky man who wore
a crisp blue shirt and navy tie. He fondly recalled a Saturday before Dominick's death when the
family played in the back yard on an unseasonably warm day. Their daughter was blowing
bubbles and "Dominick would follow every bubble with his eyes. He was very alert ... very smart."

The children's day care center closed and Reggie and Shawnese interviewed Mitchell after being
given her name by an acquaintance. They liked her, and she lived in the neighborhood.
Mitchell was friendly, talkative and her house was clean. She had two boys of her own and would
watch only one other child, they testified.

"I had good impressions; they appeared to be nice people and nothing alarmed me," Reggie said.

Yet the couple hesitated, and during the next two weeks Mitchell called them back twice. The
second time she offered to reduce her weekly rate. The Sanders family visited her again and
Dominick was first put in her care Monday, March 7.

Mitchell called the weekend prior and warned she broke her wrist and wore a cast, but had use of
her fingers and didn't think she'd have a problem caring for Dominick.

For a week, Reggie dropped Dominick off in the mornings and Shawnese fetched him after her
work in human resources at the Wal-Mart home office.

On Tuesday, March 15, when Reggie dropped off his son, Mitchell lifted the 14-pound boy easily
and rubbed her nose with his. Dominick smiled.

"Look at you, big old flirt," Reggie teased his son. "Flirting with the girls already."

But that evening, Shawnese immediately knew something was wrong when she arrived to pick up
Dominick. Her chubby boy, wearing overalls decorated with cars and trains, lay limp in a swing
inside Mitchell's living room. His head sagged forward and he didn't respond.

"Nothing unusual happened, he's just been fussy," Mitchell told her. Shawnese got the baby home
and tried not to panic as she called Reggie and begged him to leave work.

Within an hour, the couple was in the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital and doctors were
suspecting traumatic injury. Dominick was whisked south to Little Rock.

"I didn't want to give up on him," Reggie said, swatting away tears with a huge hand. "We prayed
over him ... our family from Mississippi came." Within 48 hours, the Sanders would decide to
donate their son's organs and allow him to be removed from life support.

Testimony was introduced Monday from three of the many doctors who'll piece together
Dominick's medical findings.

Pediatrician Janet Cantwell said she examined Dominick at one day and one week of age -- and
at about three months when he had a cold. He was healthy, well-fed and had one ear infection,
she said.

Tom Youngblood, the on-call pediatrician for St. Mary's Hospital the day Dominick was injured,
said a brain scan revealed brain swelling and bruising.

"I was concerned about whether he had meningitis, suffered trauma, or had a brain tumor or
seizure. Any of this could have explained his initial presentation when he showed up in the ER,"
Youngblood said.

Results of the scan suggested the baby "had an injury that involved his brain being struck against
the walls of his skull. Hitting something repeatedly or shaken," Youngblood said.

Prosecutors continue presenting their case today.

 Shawnese, second from left, and Reggie Sanders make their way to the Benton
County Courthouse Annex on Monday, Sept. 11, 2006, where Samantha Mitchell is
on trial for the death of their 4-month old. The Sanders are accompanied by family
members, and Debra Walz, far left, the witness coordinator for the Benton County
Prosecutor's Office.
J.S. Wedgeworth, The Morning News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is my comment posted to the paper :

Your comment has been posted!

Louise Lafontaine (Gingerbread Grandma) wrote on September 12, 2006 11:45 AM:"I was at the
International Shaken Baby Conference in Montreal, September 2004. We saw a video of a 10
year old boy, holding a 10 lb sac of sugar. The boy was unable to gather enough momentum to
shake the sack, without losing his balance, falling or dropping the sac. The whiplash mechanism
just wasn't possible. Yet, this is what is required, the rapid acceleration-deceleration movement to
cause Shaken Baby trauma of bruising the brain inside the skull, resulting in swelling and
bleeding of the brain. To say a 2 year old could inflict this type of horrific injury is lying in the
extreme. Only a coward would place the blame on a young child for such a violent dastardly act."