Dr. Bayardo, Travis County Medical Examiner, stated that Jayla Belton died within 15 minutes of a blow to her liver, that all of her injuries occurred at the same time, and that it must have happened some time near 5:00 p.m. on May 24. Dr. Bayardo's testimony eliminated everyone except R.L. Murray and Lacresha as suspects. R.L. is paralyzed from the waist down, so he too was eliminated as it seems unlikely that he could have perpetrated such a beating.Dr. Bayardo further stated that the force of the alleged blow to her liver was analogous to the force of impact of someone going through the windshield in a high-speed auto accident, or someone being kicked by a powerful horse or mule.
The Problems with Dr. Bayardo's Testimony
First, try to reconcile the force of someone going through the windshield of a car and the force possible from an 11-year old child. Try to reconcile the fact that several people, other than the Murrays, witnessed that Jayla Belton had been vomiting, sleeping and sweating the entire day and that Dr. Bayardo never offered any medical reasons for these symptoms, which were never disputed in court. Consider Dr. Bayardo's negligence in performing the autopsy – not only did he neglect to analyze the bruise and injury patterns to see if this a chronically battered child, he failed to report that at 20 pounds, 2 1/2-year old Jayla Belton was seriously malnourished.
Reconcile the fact that Dr. Bayardo stated all the bruises could have happened within a 24-hour period with the fact that
1.) his statements about the bruising changed a number of times from the time of the autopsy up to and including the second trial and
2.) experts agree that determining the timing of bruises is not that clear cut.
3.) he failed to take x-rays, a standard operating procedure
4.) when presented with an obviously battered baby, he failed to measure a clear fist-mark on Jayla's body .
Consider the fact that Bayardo has a reputation for making mistakes and that he has only once testified for the defense, and only then because of an error in his judgment. Consider too, that when he was asked why he didn't perform certain customary procedures (as outlined above) in the autopsy of Jayla Belton, he responded "because nobody asked me to do that." What was his job?! To determine what happened to Jayla Belton, or was it as it appears – to look for "evidence" that might help shore up the crime scenario offered to him by the police officer who attended the autopsy?
Enter Dr. Linda Norton
Dr. Linda Norton, former Medical Examiner for Dallas County and child abuse specialist, refused to testify for the State when requested because the State could not provide her any evidence that supported their case against Lacresha or any of the Murrays. She offers the only reasonable scenario which corresponds with the evidence and testimony given in this matter. After 100 hours of examining the evidence, the testimony and interviewing the witnesses, Dr. Norton testified that Jayla Belton was a chronically battered child, that she was being starved to death, losing not only body weight, but that her bones had begun to shrink. She further stated Jayla Belton had been systematically beaten until the last beating, which she believes occurred either the evening of May 23rd or early in the morning of May 24th prior to Jayla being dropped off at the Murrays by Derrick Shaw.
Dr. Norton testified the symptoms of profuse sweating, vomiting and sleepiness are symptoms of internal injuries, which symptoms she was exhibiting at 1:00 p.m., four hours before the alleged attack. At 1:00 p.m., Jayla attempted to eat and vomited a substance later identified as blood. At approximately 5:30 p.m., Lacresha saw Jayla "shaking." Dr. Norton testified this shaking was most likely convulsions. Jayla was surely dying at this point.
Jayla was then rushed to Brackenridge Hospital, where she was given CPR. Both Dr. Norton and the Brackenridge Hospital emergency nurse in charge, Gene Cummings, testified that the over 1,000 CPR compressions, which were administered by four people, could have and probably did split Jayla Belton's liver. Further, Mr. Cummings testified it is not unusual for (and is a warning in the emergency care handbooks) for a child's ribs to be broken during CPR.
Dr. Norton further testified the autopsy itself, the opening of the body cavity, would have cause a damaged liver to split even further. She adamantly testified the injuries shown in the graphic and inflammatory pictures presented to the jury were not the result of an alleged beating, but were the result of an initial injury compounded by movement during the day, vomiting, CPR and then the opening of the body cavity during the autopsy. Dr. Norton testified that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint the time that a bruise might have occurred on the body. Dr. Di Miao, in his book, agreed with her.
Therefore, it is impossible to say that all the bruises occurred at the same time or that they occurred within 24 hours, within two days or even within two weeks. Dr. Bayardo's assertions that the bruising occurred within 24 hours lacks scientific validity. Further, Dr. Norton stated that given Jayla's symptoms, her liver was most likely damaged to some degree before she arrived at the Murrays, that it bled slowly into the abdomen during the day, leading to her death late in the afternoon – but the splitting occurred after Jayla was taken to the hospital.
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