WOODLAND — A Yolo Superior Court hearing turned contentious Thursday over a request to postpone the trial of a man accused of fatally beating a Davis toddler.
Defense lawyers for Darnell D’Angelo Dorsey say they need more time for their medical expert to analyze tissue samples from the alleged victim, 20-month-old Cameron Morrison, to determine whether he died of traumatic brain injuries caused by ongoing abuse, as prosecutors say, or perhaps an underlying illness, as the defense contends.
Dorsey, 23, is scheduled to go to trial on felony child assault charges starting Jan. 25, the two-year anniversary of Cameron’s death.
He is accused of inflicting fatal injuries upon the toddler on the night of Jan. 22, 2014, while babysitting the two children of his girlfriend, Veronica Rix, at her Olive Drive residence. Rix returned home to find Dorsey holding an unconscious Cameron, who died three days later.
Dorsey, who has pleaded not guilty, has admitted to slapping and shaking Cameron, but said it was because he had found the boy unresponsive after possibly choking on some food. Defense lawyers say their medical expert believes Cameron may have succumbed to pneumonia, based on information culled from autopsy reports.
The expert, pediatric forensic pathologist Dr. Janice Ophoven, received slides of the tissue samples in August but has yet to review them, Deputy Public Defender Joseph Gocke said in court Thursday.
He added that Ophoven will be out of the country all of January and has committed to other trials in February, leaving Dorsey’s lawyers unable to consult with her until later that month and putting them at a disadvantage should the trial begin as scheduled.
Gocke even received backing from the case’s prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michelle Serafin, who agreed that “the medical evidence is the crux” of the trial.
“I think they’re entitled to find an expert, frankly,” Serafin said, suggesting an April trial date should the proceedings be postponed.
Judge Paul Richardson was less accommodating, however, questioning why the case had been given short shrift by Dr. Ophoven when the trial date has been set for months.
“This case needs priority. This expert has had these samples since August, and you’re telling me she hasn’t even looked at them to evaluate them,” Richardson said. “It does not appear to the court that this case has been given the priority it deserves.”
With that, the judge denied the defense motion to continue the trial — without prejudice, meaning the issue can be raised again — and invited the attorneys to return in early January for further discussions.
When asked which court date he preferred, a visibly angered Gocke said, “Whatever works for the court, because none of them works for the defense. … The court has now essentially told the defense that its case doesn’t matter whatsoever.”
“That is not an accurate representation, and you know it,” Richardson replied, setting a Jan. 5 status review. Gocke later stormed out of the courtroom, slamming two sets of doors to the hallway outside.
Watching the drama unfold from the audience was Ellen Contini, Cameron Morrison’s grandmother.
She said she had mixed feelings about Richardson’s ruling — understanding of the defense’s right to adequately present its case, but also frustrated by the trial’s repeated delays.
The case plodded along for much of its first year, when a private attorney represented Dorsey, and his switch to the public defender’s office required additional time for his court-appointed lawyers to get up to speed before the preliminary hearing last March.
“It’s like waiting on the tarmac, and the plane won’t take off,” Contini said as she left the courtroom. “We welcome everyone’s prayers.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene