Wednesday, February 11, 2015

News: Chad Evans: Murder of 21 Month Old Child

NH officials push to re-examine man’s conviction for 2000 Kittery death of toddler

CONCORD, New Hampshire — Some government leaders in the state are pursuing new efforts to free former Rochester resident Chad Evans, who was convicted in 2001 of murdering a 21-month-old girl.

On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a resolution urging the Department of Justice to re-examine Evans’ conviction and hire an independent investigator to review the case. Meanwhile, the senior assistant attorney general states he does not believe a further review of the case will exonerate Evans.

Evans is serving 43 years to life in prison on a second-degree murder charge, for killing 21-month-old Kassidy Bortner, who was the daughter of Evans’ girlfriend at the time, Amanda Bortner. Kassidy died on Nov. 9, 2000, after an incident at a home in Kittery, Maine.

At Evans’ December 2001 trial, Dr. Margaret Greenwald, who was the chief medical examiner at the time, testified that Kassidy died of battered child syndrome after suffering bruises throughout her entire body, including eight to 10 blows to the head.

In 2003, the N.H. Supreme Court issued an opinion, following Evans’ appeal of the case, stating that Evans had assaulted Kassidy on several occasions in the months before she died.

Following his conviction, Evans has maintained his innocence and claimed that the bruising on Kassidy’s body was accidental. In an interview with Foster’s in January 2011, Evans said his son struck Kassidy by a tee-ball and it hit her in the face. He also said Kassidy banged her head on a glass table a couple weeks before she died.

The resolution states that the jury was unaware of several factors, including that Kassidy had a heart abnormality and her death may not have been a homicide.

It also states Evans was only briefly interviewed by police about the incident. It states that the jury did not know that Evans had asked about enrolling Kassidy into day care, or that Kassidy appeared fine to a school nurse, days before she died.

The resolution also mentions Kassidy’s appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, of which the jury was not aware. The appointment took place two months before her death, and was made at Evans’ own recommendation, during the period time Evans was accused of abusing her.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin, who is also chief of the homicide unit, said he does not believe the information listed in the resolution would make any difference in the jury’s opinion at trial.

He said the Attorney General’s Office had already reexamined Evans’ case a couple years ago, when it conducted a polygraph test, a voice stress lie detector test and a statement analysis. Strelzin said the results of the polygraph test were inconclusive, and he denied Evans’ claim that he passed the voice stress test that analyzed whether Evans was telling the truth about circumstances of Kassidy’s death.

According to Strelzin, the statement analysis test — in which an expert analyses Evans’ statements to police — concluded he was not truthful.

It is also uncertain at this time whether the Department of Corrections would be compelled to reinvestigate the case if the resolution is passed. In a phone interview Tuesday, Strelzin said the resolution, HB10, simply “urges” the department to reexamine the case.

State Rep. Max Abramson of Seabrook, who is the primary sponsor of the resolution, said it is “bordline physically impossible” that Evans was anywhere near Kassidy at the time of her death. He said it is more likely that her heart condition or actions of her baby sitter at the time, led to her death.
Abramsom was previously convicted of reckless conduct for firing a weapon at his home in 2010 while trying to stop a fight that erupted at a party.
Abramson, who maintains his innocence on the reckless conduct charge, said Evans’ case is one of the main reasons he decided to run for state representative in this past November’s election.
The other sponsor of the resolution is state Rep. Dick Patten of Concord.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Here is another story related:  

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100611/GJNEWS_01/706119881


11 comments:

Lemon said...

According to Strelzin, the statement analysis test — in which an expert analyses Evans’ statements to police — concluded he was not truthful.
__________

Very interesting...can you speak more to this Peter?

Sara said...

I do not yet have an opinion as to whether or not I believe he is guilty. I would need to read the autopsy. I would also need to read the witness statements.
But in the linked article, the prosecutor said the child's injures caused her "fat to liquefy which entered her blood stream and traveled to her lungs and caused them to stop working". This is baloney. Now perhaps he was simply unable to explain the medical findings accurately, but that statement is baloney. Made up. Impossible..Science fiction. No not ever.
I am a summa cum laude graduate, a registered nurse and I know this assertion is fiction.

Anonymous said...

Sara, go back to Peter's 2012 statement analysis and read his interview with LE.
He's guilty as sin. JS.

John Mc Gowan said...

OT:

Woman’s fatal stab wound was accidentally self-inflicted, family tells police

The stab wound that killed a South Linden woman on Tuesday night was self-inflicted and possibly unintentional, her relatives told police.

Kimyatta Williams, 39, was found just after 6:30 p.m. in her home at 1338 E. 25th Ave. and was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where she died a short time later.

Police were summoned to Williams’ half of the duplex by her daughter and nephew. Both were frantic and provided little information in their shouted exchanges with a 911 call-taker.

“My aunt just got stabbed!” the nephew said.

“It was an accident! She fell!”
the daughter said. Although parts of the recorded call are difficult to decipher, the daughter seems at one point to say that the injury was caused by “a sharp thing.”

Initial reports to police were that Williams was found injured on the porch, but she was in a second-floor bedroom when officers and paramedics arrived.

She had a single stab wound in her chest, police said.

Police records indicate that officers detained four people in the house for questioning, noting that someone in the house was “claiming it’s accidental, that she’s 10-19 and fell on it.” The police code 10-19 means a person is intoxicated.

Homicide detectives obtained a search warrant to collect evidence from the house. As of last night, no one had been arrested.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/02/12/womans-fatal-stab-wound-might-have-been-self-inflicted.html

Anonymous said...

Sara,

The condition is called Fat Embolism Syndrome (FES) and is caused when fat macroglobules obstuct the small vessels of the lungs resulting in blockage of blood flow to the alveoli and damage to the endothelial lining of the blood vessels. Reduced blood flow to the alveoli results in decreased O2 - CO2 exchange in the lungs which can lead to hypoxia. If the volume of macroglobules is sufficient and obstruct enough blood vessels it can result in hypoxic death. Even if the macroglobules do not sufficiently obstruct the vessels, the subsequent breaking down of the globules to more irritating free fatty acids damages the lungs directly. Regardless, it will cause similar damage to any organs having the same small blood vessels like the brain, kidneys, and liver.

Although the release of these fat globules is usually associated with long bone type fractures it is also closely associated with any significant soft tissue injuries. Onset of symptoms from trauma to presentation of symptoms is usually 24 to 72 hours.

-Akula

Unknown said...

Thanks to Akula for posting the name of the condition.

There have been other cases like this, including the one where fraternity members were tried and convicted after a hazing incident where padding was used left a pledge dead due to the same Syndrome.

Ellie said...

I didn't see this post till after I read the Sa. What jumped out at me was that Jeff was an employee not a friend and that he owned I believe multiple restaurants. Money talks, and people (esp white people) w/ $ walk. Like the Ramsey case you mentioned recently. If this lawmaker ran in part BC of this case I would examine his connection to the defendant.

Sara said...

Now that I've read more on the case--- guilty as pronounced!
But, dang it mr prosecutor , don't go around saying stupid s***. The guy did it. You don't need to exaggerate. The truth is brutal enough.

Sara said...

Ok, just read Akula's comment.
I've been schooled!!! Thank you.
I going to demand a refund for my clearly deficient education.

Doubtful said...

CE is so arrogant. He seems to think that since, technically, his abuse of Kassidy THAT DAY is not solely what killed her, he shouldn't be held responsible for her death. Nevermind that it was his ongoing, months-long abuse that killed her. In his mind, her death shouldn't trump HIS freedom. He's more important, right?

CE liked having a hot young girlfriend and that was it. He resented having to be responsible for a kid that wasn't his - he didn't even try to hide that. The way he talked about Kassidy and the obvious hate and contempt he had for her was sickening.

Where was Kassidy's father in all this? I think Amanda saw CE as a meal ticket and a way out of her mother's house. She sacrificed her baby. I have no sympathy for her, either.

habundia said...

Is this man still in jail? Were he belongs. Though i do think that Steve person needs to be there too and her mother needs to be there also. They all let this precious child down. If this baby had fractured bones then she had to be crying a lot if somebody would carry her or lift her. She would have had much pain of all those fractures.
Would like to see the statement of Steve and what excuses he had for his part in her dead, i think he was as much to blame for her death as this CE thing.....these people aint people.....they are things! People wont do this to a baby.
Kassidy has been abused for a long time and the lack of care from all of them make me sick.
As someone pointed out....
the only "positive", she doesnt have pain anymore.