Former Schofield Barracks soldier Naeem Williams hit his 5-year-old daughter Talia in the chest so hard that the girl suffered a left shoulder separation, federal prosecutor Darren W.K. Ching said Tuesday in opening statements of Williams’ capital murder trial.
That blow, suffered July 16, 2005, followed months of admitted beatings with a belt or fist on almost a daily basis.
"Talia’s death was inevitable," Ching said.
He said that day’s beating also left an impression on the girl’s chest and caused her to hit her head on the concrete floor of the family’s military housing unit at Wheeler Army Airfield, which ultimately caused her death.
Williams, 34, is facing the death penalty because he is charged under federal law with causing the death of a child through child abuse or as part of a pattern and practice of abuse and torture.
There is no capital punishment under Hawaii law.
Williams is also on trial for conspiring with his wife, Delilah, Talia’s stepmother, to abuse and torture Talia; with lying to military investigators; and with trying to cover up abuse by cleaning blood spatters off the wall of his daughter’s bedroom before calling for help.
He told Army investigators that on the day of Talia’s death, he hit his daughter in the small of the back, causing her to fall to her knees and then onto her face.
Defense lawyer John Phillipsborn told the jurors that Talia’s death is a tragedy that could have been averted had Williams and his wife reached out for help. He said neither was capable of dealing with Talia’s special needs.
South Carolina lawyer James Benjamin Jackson Jr. represented Talia’s interest in 2004 in the custody battle between Naeem and Talia’s mother, Tarshia Williams. A South Carolina family court had earlier found that Talia failed to thrive under her mother’s care. She was undernourished and underweight.
Jackson testified Tuesday that he felt Naeem was sincere in wanting custody but thought that neither he nor Delilah was prepared to deal with Talia’s medical problems and developmental delays. The medical problems included an inability to control bladder and bowel movements.
He said he recommended Naeem get custody because of Talia’s inadequate growth under her mother’s care and because Naeem’s grandmother Virginia Williams, who had helped Talia recover, wasn’t asking for custody. The family court awarded custody to Naeem in December 2004.
Phillipsborn said Naeem now accepts responsibility for what he should have done and will take the witness stand to admit to what he did to Talia, to lying to Army investigators and to trying to cover up Talia’s abuse. But, Phillipsborn said, Williams did not kill Talia.
The Honolulu medical examiner says Talia died as a result of inflicted head trauma due to battered-child syndrome.
Phillipsborn says Talia died from injuries inflicted earlier by Delilah Williams, and will present other medical experts to dispute the findings of the Honolulu medical examiner.
Delilah Williams, 30, has pleaded guilty to participating in a pattern and practice of abuse and torture that lead to Talia’s death. She faces spending the rest of her life in prison but could get a 20-year sentence if the court accepts her plea deal with the government. The deal requires Delilah to testify against Naeem.
Phillipsborn told the jurors that Williams never conspired with his wife to kill Talia and suggested that Naeem beat his daughter to discipline her because that’s how he was raised.
Army officials received a report that Talia might be the victim of abuse 41⁄2 months before her death.
Chasi Adamany testified Tuesday that she saw bruises on Talia’s arms on Feb. 28, 2005, when she rolled up the girl’s sleeves to put on sunblock. Adamany worked at the child care facility on Schofield Barracks. She said Talia always wore long sleeves and jeans or sweat pants.
Adamany said a bruise on one arm was in the shape of a wooden spoon, and bruises on the other arm were dots, like finger impressions. She said there was also a bruise on Talia’s lower back. And when she pulled down Talia’s pants, she said it looked like there was no skin on Talia’s rear end.
"Her buttocks was pink, raw," Adamany said.
She notified co-worker Summer Kaopuiki, who called military police.
Kaopuiki said she took Talia to Schofield’s medical facility to be examined for abuse. She testified Tuesday that she didn’t think the doctor there was serious about the examination because he didn’t ask Talia anything and was "kinda playing a game with her."
She said the doctor found no evidence of abuse and told her that Talia could have gotten the injuries because she is mentally retarded and may be clumsy.
