Expert Witness Blog
Prosecutors rested their case Thursday against a Billings, MT, woman charged with aggravated assault after an expert in child abuse told the District Court jury that the 8-month-old victim’s injuries could not have happened from an accidental fall. Dr. Wilbur Smith, a nationally known expert in child abuse and child brain injuries, testified at the trial of Nevada Ugalde, who is accused of causing severe injuries to the child she was baby-sitting on June 11, 2008. Smith said he determined that the injuries suffered by the child, Isaiah Napier, were the result of abuse.
The brain injury expert witness said the child will suffer some permanent brain damage due to the severity of the injuries. Ugalde’s defense attorney has said the woman will testify at her trial. Ugalde denies harming the child, saying the child fell out of a crib.
Excerpted from billingsgazette.com.