McKnight murder trial begins Posted On: Tuesday, Jan. 29 2008 12:08 AM By Justin Cox
Killeen Daily Herald

On the night of May 18, 2006, something happened to 2-year-old Jameisha McKnight, something that injured her so badly doctors said it was as if she was dropped from the window of a two-story building.

Her mother, Killeen resident Kahtisha McKnight, has told police and medical personnel three different stories, with three different explanations for how her daughter sustained her injuries. McKnight is charged with murder in the death of her daughter, and on Monday, she pleaded not guilty in front of a jury of eight men and four women, who will decide whether McKnight should be punished for her daughter's death.

That jury got a first-hand look at damage the 2-year-old sustained the day of her death as three photographs were displayed on the view screen inside Judge Joe Carroll's 27th District Court Monday. The photos showed the child bruised, battered and beaten, laying on a surgical table at Scott & White Hospital the night doctors performed emergency surgery.

At the defense table, McKnight, who wore a white button-down dress shirt, wiped tears from her eyes for several minutes after the photos were shown.

The child had severe injuries on the entire right side of her abdomen, heavy bruising on her stomach from her buttocks all the way to her underarm.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Waldman is serving as lead prosecutor on the case, the first of eight scheduled murder trials in Bell County in 2008. Waldman read and displayed the first statement McKnight gave to police, taken by Detective Ronnie Supak from the Killeen Police Department's Youth Services Division.

"I was in the room with my 2-year-old. The kids were playing around. I was at the dresser doing my hair and saw my daughter fall backwards. I looked through the mirror and saw her hit her head on the corner side of the dresser," the statement read. "She stood up and grabbed her head and said 'Ouch, my head.' Then she fell down and went stiff on the floor.

"I picked her up and went into her room and tried to move her around, but she was unresponsive. I felt the back of her head, and it was squishy-like. I called my sister into the room. The dresser is a wooden dresser about four and a half feet tall."

In his opening statements, Waldman said McKnight's story only changed when the doctors and police told her that the story she described could not have resulted in her child's injuries.

"At about 10:30 a 911 call came in," Waldman told the jury. "(Jameisha) had fallen down and wasn't responding. What they found was Kimberly (Lewis, McKnight's sister) trying to help Jameisha in the living room. They thought Kimberly must have been her mom, because no other adults were in the house."

Waldman said that only later did McKnight come out from another room in the house, noting that she wasn't with her wounded daughter, and didn't ride with her to the hospital.

"You're going to hear Kahtisha McKnight's stories," Waldman said. "You're going to hear about the tremendous blow it must have taken. How there was a skull fracture. It was totally inconsistent with what she told them. (Jameisha) died the next day at 8:45. Another story, totally inconsistent with the severity of the injuries. It doesn't add up."

Waldman said the conclusions are there for anyone to see.

"You can sure see what is going on, you're going to see how the story changed again," Waldman said. "You're going to have no doubt, that while in the course of committing a felony, injury to a child, you're going to see that (McKnight) caused (Jameisha's) death."

McKnight's defense attorney Michael White said this is a simple case of two people claiming the other committed the crime. He said McKnight's sister is responsible. But in any case, the evidence is not strong enough, he said, to warrant a ruling for either party beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Kimberly Lewis is the responsible party," White said. "Lewis also told different versions. Her story changes. She was the one at the hospital early on that was not consistent. In an ill-conceived plan to save her sister, (McKnight) put the crosshairs right on herself. The worst that could happen is that Kahteisha McKnight is wrongfully accused of beating her child. One of them is probably guilty, but you will not have proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

Supak testified in court Monday, and said McKnight's first story was bogus, and he told her so when she came in for her second statement. He knew before McKnight that the child's injuries were likely fatal. But McKnight, he said, showed very little emotion.

"I explained to her that I did not believe her," Supak testified. "At that point, she advised that she was playing with the other two children then said she fell back and hit Jameisha."

The prosecution displayed a video showing Supak's second interview with McKnight.

"The force that she sustained was massive, as it was explained to me by the doctors," Supak said on the video to the crying McKnight, who was not in custody at the time, five days after the incident on May 23.

"It would be like dropping a child from a two-story building. Either she was struck with something, or she was picked up and slammed into something. She would have been knocked out. This does not make sense. It's not possible ? There is some kind of explanation, but it's not the one you're giving me."

Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. this morning as police and medical personnel are expected to be called in the morning hours. Waldman indicated that McKnight's sister, Kimberly Lewis, would be called by the prosecution to testify as well.

Contact Justin Cox at jcox@kdhnews.com or call (254) 501-7568