Sentenced to Live

Prosecutors tried to make a case that Molly had been ambivalent about motherhood. In the days following Jason's birth, Molly had sent an email to an old boyfriend in which she did not tell him she had just given birth. Rather she concocted a story saying that she was in a car accident, was in the hospital and now had a scar across her stomach. "All that working out and the bikini body has a scar," Molly wrote in the email. Why deny the birth of Jason, prosecutors asked? A Boulder county official close to the case who requested anonymity said prosecutors tried to recruit Molly to testify against her husband. Molly wouldn't budge.
 
The defense called only one witness: Molly Midyette. Led by attorney Truman, the choice was a calculated parry against prosecutors' questioning of Molly's mothering, and she tried to explain all of the suspicious comments and behaviors prosecutors had raised. Regarding the moment when Molly asked Alex "did you" hurt the child, Molly replied: "My first reaction was to look at Alex and ask did you do this and he said no. And I asked if there was an accident, and [Alex] said no."
 
Molly also defended her in-laws' reaction at the hospital. Her extended family was just being overprotective, she said. The lawyer? He was an old family friend who was called in by J. Nold Midyette, not Molly or Alex. The email to the old boyfriend? "I had put so much weight on during pregnancy and had serious body issues…And I sent him this stupid email looking for some reassurance. It was really dumb. And really embarrassing….I just felt like I looked disgusting."

At the heart of the defense was Dr. Siegfried. Truman argued Molly had followed her family doctor's advice to the letter, and that Siegfried, even on Feb. 24, never created any sense of urgency. Called by the prosecution, child abuse expert Dr. Carole Jenny said if she had received Molly's Feb. 24 call, "I would want to see [the baby] immediately." Instead, an appointment was made for three hours later. How could Molly be reckless, the defense asked, if she was following doctor orders?

Jurors, who didn't speak after the trial, didn't agree. Dr. Jenny also said the family's delay taking Jason to the ER "signed [Jason's] death warrant." Other experts testified how a third of all child abuse injuries are missed in regular check ups. And it is common for one parent to protect the other abusive parent. As for the overwhelming grief, "Abusive parents love their children," Dr. Antonia Chiesa, a doctor at Children's Hospital who specializes in treating abused children, said. "Sometime they don't love them very well."

© 2007