Defense Witnesses Say Traci Carpenter Was Rough With Sierra

Brian Rutherford Chooses Not To Testify

  • Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Defense witnesses for Brian Rutherford testified Wednesday that Traci Carpenter was rough with her daughter, Sierra, who ended up a child abuse victim.

Witnesses said they saw Ms. Carpenter hit Sierra on the head with a metal spoon, poke Sierra with her finger and jerk Sierra up by the arm.

Rutherford, a former boyfriend of Ms. Carpenter is standing trial for felony murder and aggravated child abuse. He said Tuesday afternoon he had decided not to testify.

Ms. Carpenter is charged with aggravated child abuse, but is not on trial at this time.

B.J. Katafias said Ms. Carpenter came to her home one time after the death of Sierra in April 2006. She said Ms. Carpenter was crying at times, then she would be laughing and cutting up. She said Ms. Carpenter talked with her and her daughter about Sierra. She said Ms. Carpenter told them she would lose her temper sometimes and poke Sierra in the forehead.

The witness said Ms. Carpenter said she was concerned that something she did might have contributed to her child's death. However, she said she was relieved when the autopsy report did not show anything about poking in the forehead.

Ms. Katafias said she left the residence that night, then returned to find her husband and Ms. Carpenter smoking meth in a back bedroom. She said she became angry when she saw that Ms. Carpenter had just come out of the shower wearing a pair of her pajamas. She said she "went storming in" the bedroom and confronted the pair. She said she is now divorced from her former husband.

The witness said Ms. Carpenter "obviously was on pills. She was stumbling over her words, and her speech was slurred."

Jackie Ledford said she moved in with Ms. Carpenter after Traci's husband, Josh Carpenter, died in a car wreck when Sierra was four months old. She said she, along with Ms. Carpenter's mother and sisters, had to tend to Sierra because Ms. Carpenter would often sleep until noon or 1 p.m.

Ms. Ledford said on one occasion Ms. Carpenter was gone for several days, and her mother contacted her to try to find where Ms. Carpenter was staying. She said the mother, Sue Petty, said she had talked with Traci on the phone and heard Sierra crying in the background. Ms. Ledford said she also reached Traci on the phone and could hear Sierra screaming in the background.

She said Ms. Carpenter spoke about "seeing something through the windows" and being afraid to go outside. She said she felt she was on drugs and was hallucinating.

She said Mrs. Petty finally found out where her daughter was staying and said the place was filthy. She said it was then that the Pettys took away the use of a car by Traci, causing a clash with the parents.

Ms. Ledford said that on one occasion, she came home to find Sierra screaming and Traci "passed out with her mouth wide open."

She said that on another occasion, Traci was eating peanut butter out of the jar with a metal spoon when she stopped to hit Sierra on the head with the spoon and poke her in the head with her finger. She said she then jerked her up by the wrist.

The witness said she saw some bruises, and she claimed Traci's mother "was always real worried" about Sierra's welfare.

Ms. Ledford said she went up to Sierra's casket at the funeral with Traci, and she said Traci removed a hat from the child and kept rubbing a large bruise on her forehead.

She said, "When Josh died, Traci cried and cried and laid in the bed for days. At Sierra's funeral, I never really saw her with any tears."

Ms. Ledford, who dated Rutherford about six years ago, denied that Sierra was scared of him as Ms. Carpenter said.

She said after Sierra died, she began questioning Traci about what happened. She said, "Her story changed several times. I felt something wasn't right."

She added, "I questioned her too much, and we drifted apart."

Joyce Skates, mother of Jackie Ledford, said she was present for the incident about the metal spoon. She said after Traci hit the child, she said to her, "What's wrong with you? Have you lost it?"

She said she made some more comments about Traci that she overheard. She said Traci came back in and yelled, "It's my baby. It's my business." She said she then jerked the child up by one arm.

Ms. Skates said, "I told her I was going to pull both of her arms out of their sockets, and I wish I had."

Dustin Parson, testifying outside the presence of the jury, said he dated Traci for two weeks. He said it was about a month after Sierra died.

He said he came in once without Traci knowing he was there and overheard her talking about Sierra. He said she stated, "I never meant for it to happen that way." On the objection of the prosecution, Judge Don Poole did not allow that to go to the jury.

He also did not allow the jury to hear the lengthy testimony of Janice Carpenter, Sierra's other grandmother.

She said she had decided on Sunday to meet with defense attorneys to give them some facts about the case. However, she had already been in the courtroom through much of the trial.

She said she spoke with the defense "because of some things that concerned us. I am here to solely find the truth. We just want to know the truth, that's all."

Mrs. Carpenter said Traci "was an excellent mother when she was around us." But she said she was advised by Sue Petty that after the death of her son, Josh, that Traci would stay out a lot at night and get up real late. She said other family members had to tend to Sierra.

She said on one occasion she was with Traci and found something wrong was going on with her. She said, "Traci wouldn't look me in the eye. I could tell something was wrong."

Mrs. Carpenter said the first time she heard of Brian Rutherford was when Sue Petty told her about him. She said Mrs. Petty "was telling me about how nice he was."

She said Mrs. Petty said she went to his apartment and insisted on touring it. She said Mrs. Petty told her it "was neat and clean."

Mrs. Carpenter said Mrs. Petty said she had found Sierra and Rutherford's daughter, Alyssa, watching TV on the floor and drinking out of sippy cups. She said they were "fine." But she said Mrs. Petty later told her that she had found Sierra on the couch crying at Rutherford's place.

Mrs. Carpenter said when she went to the hospital after Sierra had been airlifted, "the family was all mad at Traci. They all kept asking her, 'What have you done to her?' I know you've done something.'"

She said, "The sisters were hollering at her and they were all arguing." She said their pastor "called everybody together and said, 'This is not the time or the place for this.'"

Mrs. Carpenter said, "Nobody would talk to Traci except some of my family."

She said Traci was required to go to Juvenile Court and relinquish custody of Sierra, and she took her.

Russell Schwartz testified that Rutherford had often cared for his young son with no problems.

Matt Hines, Rutherford's first cousin, said he never saw him angry at children and said Sierra was not frightened of him.

He said Rutherford "has always been great with kids." He said his younger relatives "were infatuated with him."

Hillary Avans, who said she had dated Rutherford since she was 14 and is the mother of his child, said she learned that he and Traci were dating soon after they broke up in February 2006.

She said Rutherford is "an excellent father. He would barely whoop her. In fact, I don't ever remember a time when he did. He had more patience with Alyssa than I did."

Ms. Avans said when Traci spent a night or two with her that she (Hillary) ended up mainly tending to Sierra.

She said she left her daughter for several hours with Traci. She said she returned and found her asleep on the couch. She said Sierra "was crying and snot was all over her face."

Ms. Avans claimed that while Traci was at the hospital after Sierra had been brought in that Traci called her "yelling on the phone and threatening me and my daughter's life."

She said Traci was afraid that Rutherford was going to leave her and go back with her.

The witness said Traci told her that Rutherford "never saw her again."

Carla Frizzell said she was near the Dallas Bay Fire Hall on April 25, 2006, when she saw a man carrying a child to the fire hall.

She said that a short time later she saw Traci Carpenter come to the scene. She said, "I had already started crying, but she (Traci) was standing by the car, and there was no emotion. It was like it was a typical day (with her)."

The state called David Unterborn as a rebuttal witness.

He said he was living adjacent to Rutherford when Ms. Avans was still there.

He said one night he heard a commotion next door that caused "plates and stuff to fall off the wall."

He said he heard a female who sounded frantic saying, "Leave me alone. Get away from me. Someone please help me."

He said he called police and two officers came out.

Attorney Hank Hill said some marijuana was found at the residence, but no charges were filed in connection with the disturbance.

The case is set to go to the jury on Thursday.

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