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An expert for the defense testified Wednesday during the manslaughter trial of a Brewer father that the man’s 6-week-old son died of complications from COVID-19 and not from being violently shaken.
The jury trial of Ronald Harding, 38, began Monday before Superior Court Justice Ann Murray at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor. The case is expected to go to the jury Thursday.
Harding has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, who is prosecuting the case, told jurors in her opening statement that the boy had died of being violently shaken. The defense attorney said the baby died of sepsis.
Defense attorney William Ashe of Ellsworth told jurors in his opening statement that the baby had an infection, but did not say Jaden Harding died of COVID-19.
Initially, the baby tested positive for the coronavirus at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center but two subsequent tests were negative, according to testimony Monday. The medical examiner testified that Jaden did not have COVID-19 when the autopsy was performed on June 2, 2023.
Dr. Jane Turner, a forensic pathologist from St. Louis, said Wednesday the bleeding in the baby’s brain was caused by swelling that was a complication of the coronavirus. She said the “clotting” of blood in his brain was a result of a COVID-19 infection.
She said the autopsy was “inadequate.”
Dr. Liam Funte, Maine’s deputy chief medical examiner, testified Tuesday that there was significant bleeding in the boy’s brain and brainstem as well as a bruise on the back of his head. There also was some bruising near an ear and eye, the medical examiner testified. Funte concluded the baby died of an inflicted trauma.
Under cross examination Tuesday, Funte said that discoloration on the baby’s legs actually was caused by lividity, the settling of blood in the body after death, rather than bruising as he’d initially thought.
Ashe sought to impeach Funte’s testimony by introducing a 2017 autopsy that he did not perform but signed off on when he worked as a deputy medical examiner in the state of Mississippi. That autopsy concluded that an infant died of being violently shaken but that decision was reversed in 2021 after litigation to say the baby died of disease.
On Monday, Kayla Hartley, 32, the baby’s mother, testified that she, Harding and her older children were living in Brewer when 6-week-old Jaden died. Harding called 911 about 7:08 p.m. on Memorial Day 2021.
Hartley said that she performed CPR on the baby as directed by the dispatcher at the Penobscot Regional Communication Center until paramedics arrived and took the child to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. Jaden never regained consciousness or breathed on his own again, according to testimony from doctors.
In a June 3, 2021, interview with Maine State Police detectives played for the jury Tuesday, Harding told police the baby suddenly went limp in his arms. He denied shaking or dropping him.
“This baby was everything for both of us,” Harding told Maine State Police detectives in the June 3 interview. “I wish I knew what happened.”
Harding is being held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail.
After Harding’s arrest in early June 2021, two other Maine parents were charged in the deaths of their children. Maine’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability is investigating their deaths and how the Maine Department of Human Services interacted with the children and their families.
Old Town mother Hillary Goding, 30, pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Hailey. She is serving a 26-year sentence with all but 19 years suspended, followed by six years of probation.
In October, a Waldo County jury found Jessica Trefethen, 36, guilty of murder in the death of her 3-year-old son Maddox Williams in Stockton Springs. She was sentenced to 47 years in prison. OPEGA’s report to the Legislature on his murder is due in mid-April.
A report on Jaden’s death most likely will be initiated after Harding’s trial concludes.
If convicted of manslaughter, Harding faces up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $50,000. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 if convicted of violating bail.
