Toddler’s injuries like a ‘high-velocity’ car crash, doctor testifies

“What it tells me is that there’s been some very significant event between that morning when she awoke, got up, moved around appropriately, acted appropriately, watched TV, watching cartoons, eating Cheerios and bananas and then she presents in a severe neurologically impaired state,” said Dr. Laurence Kleiner, attending neurosurgeon at Dayton Children’s Hospital. “That’s a big discrepancy.”

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Kleiner’s testimony at least partly contradicted what York’s attorneys said their expert will say later in the trial in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. York’s attorneys said during opening statements that Rylee had a previous head injury that worsened.

“Rylee would be characterized as a severe head injury,” Kleiner said. “Although she was breathing on her own, she was not doing anything purposeful, she was not responding verbally, she was not opening her eyes.”

Kleiner said a CAT scan was ordered and that showed brain swelling, indicating head trauma. The doctor said Rylee’s condition worsened and that her pupils had gotten larger and non-reactive, a sign blood flow is being cut off to the brain stem.

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Kleiner said he ordered a brain MRI, which showed progressively worse cerebral swelling.

“In my examination at that time, she fulfilled the criteria of being brain dead,” he said, later adding, “When a child presents, in a situation like this and there’s not a good history of a severe accident or trauma, there’s a very high likelihood, in the 90 percents, that it is abusive …. head injury or afflicted head injury.”

Kleiner said Rylee’s normal appearance didn’t rule out that there may have been previous head injuries where she may have been impaired to a lesser degree.

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In the morning session, Rylee’s mother Helen Thompson testified about the day she came home and found her daughter in a catatonic state. During the testimony, some jurors were crying and needed to take a break.

Rylee’s pediatrician, Dr. Lori Ellis, also testified about seeing Rylee a couple days before the incident when her mother said Rylee had been vomiting and not feeling well.

The trial in Judge Mary Katherine Huffman’s court is expected to continue into next week.