SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A 14-year-old brain-damaged girl may be called as a defense witness during the trial of the man prosecutors say helped beat her into a coma, his lawyers said Wednesday.
Jason Strickland is set to go on trial Oct. 29 on assault charge stemming from the injuries of his stepdaughter, Haleigh Poutre. Prosecutors say Strickland and Haleigh's adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, beat the 11-year-old girl so severely in September 2005 that doctors thought she would never recover.
Strickland's attorneys told Hampden County Judge Judd Carhart during a hearing Wednesday that they were undecided on whether to call Haleigh, now 14, to testify. The day before, prosecutors reversed their earlier decision and said they would not call her as a witness to spare her any further trauma.
Haleigh was at the center of a right-to-die debate in Massachusetts after the state won court permission to end her life support when doctors said she had no change of recovery. Days later, though, she began to show signs of improvement.
Haleigh's case prompted an exhaustive examination of how the state handles end-of-life questions for children in its care and sparked a massive overhaul of the child welfare system in Massachusetts.
Strickland's lawyer, Alan Black, said in court Wednesday he could not make a decision about whether to call Haleigh as a witness until he or a defense psychiatrist was allowed to interview her.
But Carhart told Black he did not have the authority to order any witness to meet with the defense. A lawyer for the state Department of Children and Families, which has custody of Haleigh, and a court-appointed guardian have said it would be harmful to her to be forced to speak to Strickland's attorneys.
Carhart gave Black 14 days to decide whether to call Haleigh as a witness. If the defense does decide to call her, Carhart said he would hold a hearing to determine whether Haleigh is mentally competent to be a witness. He said he may hold the hearing at the rehabilitation hospital in Boston where Haleigh is living.
The judge also said he would likely allow print and broadcast media in the courtroom if Haleigh does testify, but could ask that her face be shielded so her likeness is not shown in photographs or on television.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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