A St. Paul woman was acquitted Saturday night in the death of her 2-year-old son, more than two years after the boy suffered such brutal injuries that 1.5 liters of blood collected in his abdomen by the time he got to the hospital.
The Ramsey County District jury reached its verdict in the murder trial of Jessica Caldwell after a day and a half of deliberations.
In his closing arguments Friday, prosecutor David Miller said that Caldwell assaulted her son because he was whiny. Julian James-Robert Williams vomited three times overnight Sept. 9, 2009, while he and his mother were at the home of her boyfriend, Demetrius Willis.
Julian suffered numerous injuries: 28 bruises to his head, 34 bruises to his chest and abdomen, four bruises to his back and a lacerated liver. His pancreas was torn in half. Nearby arteries and veins were also torn. He died Sept. 10, 2009, after being removed from life support.
"She got rough with Julian because he wasn't being the perfect child, because he was being fussy," Miller said.
He told jurors that Caldwell was perpetrating the same extreme discipline that she and her two younger siblings suffered in Chicago at the hands of their father after their mother divorced him and moved to St. Paul.
Caldwell, 24, was charged with four counts of second-degree unintentional murder, two counts of first-degree manslaughter and one count of second-degree manslaughter.
Defense attorney Ira Whitlock had asserted that Caldwell was a doting mother who diligently kept track of her son's severe digestive disorder. Julian's pediatrician and multiple family members testified that Caldwell went to great lengths to keep her son from foods that caused vomiting and diarrhea, and that she called urgent care or took him to the hospital anytime he wasn't feeling well.
