How Could You Hall of Shame-Emerald Herriet case-Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Ukiah, California, kinship foster father Wilson Lee Tubbs III has been arrested in the December 5, 2012 death of his 5-month-old foster daughter. Tubbs and his wife, who is related to the baby, had been caring for the child only since October 23, 2012.

He is suspected of slapping and shaking the baby. He is being held on $500,000 bail in Mendocino County Jail, according to The Press Democrat.

Fort Bragg Police Chief Scott Mayberry says that “Tubbs admitted injuring the girl.”

“Mendocino Coast Hospital staff called police  Dec. 2 to report possible abuse after finding bruises on the infant’s face and skull, Mayberry said.

Tubbs had taken her to the hospital because she’d stopped breathing, Mayberry said. The wife was out of town, he said.

Tubbs initially told police the girl had fallen off a changing table onto a hardwood floor and the changing pad toppled on top of her after he had stepped away for a few seconds, Mayberry said. He told officers he thought perhaps his large dog had knocked the girl to the floor.

The child was flown to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where doctors Dec. 4 reported she had no brain function, Mayberry said. She died the next day.

The infant had two skull fractures and several bruises, injuries a child abuse specialist told police couldn’t have been caused in a fall, Mayberry said.

Last Saturday, Tubbs told investigators from the District Attorney’s Office that he had gotten upset with the baby and had shaken and slapped her “in a forceful manor, causing the child’s injuries,” police said in a statement.

On Monday, the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office filed a complaint against Tubbs and a judge issued an arrest warrant.

Officers took Tubbs into custody at 4:50 p.m. Monday in the 1000 block of Oak Street.

Tubbs, who also goes by Josh, has no local criminal history and has not cared for foster children before, Mayberry said.

Tubbs and his wife have a daughter who is about to turn 18 and lives at home, Mayberry said.”

Fort Bragg man arrested in 5-month-old baby’s death

[The Press Democrat 12/10/12 by Julie Johnson]

The former foster mother who had the child for the 4 months prior to Tubbs comments in The Press Democrat that the child was doing well in her home before being moved to the Tubbs’ home. A former Mendocino County CPS worker also speaks out about the corruption of the local CPS in the comments.

A public search of Mendocino County Court cases reveals that William Tubbs III had 2 criminal cases against him on 8/12/10. Was this taken into account before placing this child into his home?

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: “The foster father accused of beating a 5-month-old baby girl to death in December while she was in his care was in Mendocino County Superior Court Friday to schedule a future appearance.

Wilson L. Tubbs III, 38, faces a charge of child abuse resulting in death, which carries the same weight as murder, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

He had on Dec. 2 brought the baby girl, who had months earlier been taken from her mother, to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital not breathing and blue, and with bruises on her face and head.

Tubbs, the girl’s foster father, initially claimed the infant was injured when she fell from a changing bench onto a hardwood floor in his house, and later admitted he slapped and violently shook the baby, the Fort Bragg Police Department reported previously.

Mendocino County Public Defender Linda Thompson, who is representing Tubbs, asked the court to set another court date next week to prepare for the preliminary hearing.

Thompson said that rather than having a typical preliminary hearing where the district attorney makes a case to show that the defendant should be bound over for trial for the crime, the hearing might take more than a day because she plans to make her own case in Tubbs’ defense.

“I may be putting on medical evidence and (calling) other witnesses,” Thompson said, and asked the court to give her adequate time to contact expert witnesses.

No autopsy report was yet available, according to Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira, who is prosecuting the case.

Records about the case released earlier this week by the Mendocino County Counsel’s Office and Health and Human Services Agency contain a Live Scan criminal background report that, while the foster parents’ names are redacted from the form, shows a clean result.

The Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force arrested Tubbs in July 2010 on suspicion of illegally possessing a controlled substance and possession for sale. He allegedly had 20 generic hydrocodone pills and eight Valium pills, according to Sequeira.

Tubbs entered a diversion agreement with the court, whereby his case would be dismissed with no criminal charges on his record as long as he completed a yearlong drug diversion program, according to Sequeira.

As part of the arrangement, Tubbs on Nov. 9, 2010, pleaded guilty to the felony charge of possessing the hydrocodone, Sequeira said, and the misdemeanor charge of Valium possession was dropped. Tubbs’ sentence was deferred for a year on the condition that he completed the drug diversion program, according to Sequeira, who also noted that such a program didn’t exist on the coast, so coastal residents took an online course to complete the requirements.

A year later on Nov. 9, 2011, the court found that Tubbs had complied with the terms of the agreement and successfully completed the diversion program, and the case was dismissed.

Sequeira said that while the felony would not have gone on Tubbs’ record because of that, the arrest and subsequent diversion agreement would still show up if someone were to “run his rap sheet.”

Tubbs is due in court for a pre-preliminary hearing date on the child abuse charge at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Courtroom B of the Ukiah courthouse.”

Foster father accused in baby’s death had drug arrest

[Ukiah Daily Journal 1/18/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 2-warning extremely graphic description of brain injuries: “A Fort Bragg man accused of beating a 5-month-old baby girl to death in December while she was in his care was bound over for trial in Mendocino County Superior Court Wednesday.

Wilson L. “Josh” Tubbs III, 38, the baby’s foster father, faces a charge of child abuse resulting in death, which carries the same weight as murder, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

Tubbs’ preliminary hearing — the district attorney’s chance to show a judge enough evidence to believe the defendant committed the crime — was held Wednesday. Judge John Behnke issued the holding order for Tubbs after hearing three hours of testimony from the child abuse specialist who examined baby Emerald Herriet at Oakland Children’s Hospital, a Fort Bragg Police officer and an investigator for the district attorney.

FBPD officer Chris Awad responded to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital Dec. 2, where the 5-month-old girl had arrived not breathing, blue and with bruises on her face and skull.

Awad testified that one doctor, who identified herself as Emerald’s regular doctor, told him the baby’s bruises were consistent with the fall Tubbs said the girl took, while another doctor told him Emerald had “significant brain damage” and her injuries couldn’t have been caused by the fall.

Tubbs claimed he put Emerald on a changing pad on top of a bench about 21 inches tall to change her diaper on the night of Dec. 1, and that he had left the room brieflyuntil he heard “her serious cry” and returned to find the baby face-down on the hardwood floor with a bloody nose and the changing pad on top of her, Awad testified.

The baby seemed fine until the next morning, Tubbs said, when “something about her state or her position in the swing alarmed him” and he “yanked her out of the swing and put her hardly on the floor to perform CPR,” Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office investigator Kevin Bailey testified.

Bailey said he confronted Tubbs about inconsistencies between his story and the autopsy report, which a child abuse specialist had testified showed extensive head and brain injury that appeared to have happened over a period of several weeks to several months.

Bailey testified that Tubbs eventually admitted he had shaken the baby and “slapped the child upside the head” in frustration at the baby’s crying.

Dr. Rachel Gilgoff, a pediatrician specializing in child abuse, testified that she had examined the baby girl before she was pronounced dead Dec. 4 after extensive testing for brain activity, and attended her autopsy Dec. 7.

The autopsy revealed there were at least 49 bruises on baby Emerald’s head and face, a fracture in the back, right side of her skull with moderate swelling over it and another fracture in the left side of her skull with less swelling, Gilgoff testified. The baby also had retinal hemorrhages, which she described as “bleeding from the blood vessels behind the eyes.”

She continued, “In Emerald’s case, she had numerous retinal hemorrhages in both eyes and in different layers of her retina.” The hemorrhages were “very severe,” covered “a good portion” of her retinas and existed in several layers of the eye, according to Gilgoff, signs she considered “extremely” indicative of “abusive head trauma.” Gilgoff said the injuries appeared to have been caused by a combination of blunt force trauma — as indicated by the visible bruising — and shaking.

The baby’s visible injuries included “numerous bruises” on both sides, the back and top of the baby’s scalp, bruising on both of her ears, bruises on her cheeks, forehead, both arms and her chest. The injuries to her brain included subdural hematoma — the accumulation of blood between the brain’s surface and inside of the skull — and hemorrhaging, according to Gilgoff.

“All of those caused her death,” Gilgoff said on the witness stand.

Prosecutor Paul Sequeira asked her if the fall Tubbs had described for officer Awad could have caused the injuries.

“Children fall all the time, and generally nothing happens,” Gilgoff answered, adding that usually the only injury from a fall is a single bruise. “If they’re going to beat the bell curve, they could get a single skull fracture, but it would not be consistent with over 49 bruises to various planes of the head…. And then, those kids who do sustain a skull fracture, it doesn’t injure the brain and they don’t die.”

Regarding Tubbs’ statement that he pulled Emerald from her swing and slammed the baby down on the hardwood floor to do CPR, Gilgoff said it would have taken “significant force to cause a skull fracture.”

Asked to estimate how much force it would take, the doctor said a study of about 500 cases where children fell from hospital beds onto linoleum floors revealed only seven cases of broken bones as a result of the fall. None of those children died or suffered brain injury, she said.

Gilgoff testified that she could tell by the two different shades of blood accumulated on the surface of Emerald’s brain that the majority of her internal head injuries were older while some of the injuries had happened more recently.

The older blood, described as being a grayish color, covered Emerald’s entire brain, she said.

“If you look at her CT scan, it’s her brain floating in an enormous amount of gray fluid, so it’s a significant amount of old blood that covers her entire brain,” Gilgoff said, adding that the injuries could have been more than 2 weeks old.

The skull fracture on the left side of the baby’s head also appeared to have been older than the other one, she said.

The doctor explained that when a baby’s head undergoes a “whiplash” or shaking motion, the brain, since it sits in fluid, “can start moving separate from the skull, and it breaks the blood vessels that go between the skull and the brain.

“You can shake a baby and have that happen; you can slam a baby onto a hard surface and have that happen; you can whack the baby on the head and have that happen; there’s a variety of ways you could have the head rotate such that it breaks those blood vessels.”

Such a motion could break blood vessels in the eyes, and also “interrupts the oxygen/bloodflow to the brain such that the brain is globally injured as well.”

Gilgoff estimated “something new or horrific happened” on or around Dec. 1, partly based on people’s statements that the baby was OK before the fall.

“My concern is that something may have also happened around Nov. 2,” she said.

The Redwood Coast Regional Center evaluated baby Emerald Nov. 13, Gilgoff testified, revealing “she was acting like a newborn” at 5 months of age, “so she had lost all of her milestones; that she was crying in pain and holding her hands over her eyes, and if you tried to take her hands off of her eyes she would cry; that she wasn’t tracking people; she wasn’t smiling.”

The baby also vomited frequently, and was diagnosed Nov. 2 with stomach flu by her pediatrician, “but vomiting can also be a sign of increased brain pressure or head injury, and it is one of the most common misdiagnoses for abusive head trauma.”

In cases where abusive head trauma is eventually found in children, according to Gilgoff, 30 percent of the victims had been seen by a doctor, and most of them were misdiagnosed with stomach flu.

“This was … if not the worst, one of the worst cases I have seen so far in my career, and … definitely evidence of a violent physical assault that happened around Dec. 1,” Gilgoff said. “But I think what also makes it horrific for me is that it probably … could have been prevented if people had identified something happening probably around Nov. 2.””

Foster father ordered to stand trial in baby’s death

[Ukiah Daily Journal 5/15/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 3:“A Fort Bragg man accused of beating a 5-month-old baby girl to death in December while she was in his care has been scheduled for a July 22 trial in Mendocino County Superior Court.”

“Judge John Behnke ordered Tubbs to be bound over for trial after three hours of testimony from three witnesses, including the child abuse specialist who examined baby Emerald Herriet at Oakland Children’s Hospital, who testified that the extent of injury to Emerald’s head and brain indicated the baby had been abused over a period of time, with traumatic events appearing to have happened around Nov. 2 and Dec. 1, based on medical records.”

“According to county records, the infant was taken from her mother June 28 after a roommate reported that the mother left after a verbal fight during which, according to the roommate, the mother held Emerald on her hip and the baby’s head was “basically being flung around due to a lack of proper support” while the mother gathered her belongings with her other hand.

Asked if that incident could have caused the brain injuries described, Gilgoff said there is “not enough force” in that kind of motion to cause such severe damage.

“That’s not what we worry about when we talk about shaking,” she said on the witness stand, adding that injuries as severe as Emerald’s are typically caused when “someone loses it in anger and shakes the baby. If you saw someone do it to the extent where it could cause subdural hematoma and brain injury, you’d freak out.”

Tubbs initially claimed the infant was injured when she fell from a changing bench onto a hardwood floor in his house, and later admitted he slapped and violently shook the baby in frustration at her crying, a Fort Bragg Police Department officer and a DA’s Office investigator testified.

Responding to Thompson’s cross-examination, DA’s Office investigator Kevin Bailey testified that Tubbs told authorities baby Emerald bruised easily, and that while he felt “partially” responsible for her death, he also said, “there were underlying issues my wife and I kept trying to address but they kept blowing us off.'”

Prosecutor Paul Sequeira of the DA’s Office also procured testimony about stressors in Tubbs’ life, including marital strife and unemployment. Tubbs was responsible for Emerald’s care during the day while his wife worked, according to witness testimony.

Thompson also questioned Gilgoff about whether the baby could have had hydrocephalus, a condition where an abnormal amount of cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain, causing pressure inside the skull and head enlargement — or another brain disorder. Gilgoff testified that the baby appeared to be developing normally, based on her medical records, and that there would have been other indicators if brain disorder was an issue.

The baby girl was flown to Oakland Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Dec. 4. Tubbs was arrested Dec. 10 in her death, and remains in custody at the Mendocino County Jail under $500,000.”

Foster father faces July 22 trial in baby’s death

[Ukiah Daily Journal 6/1/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 4: “The trial date for a Fort Bragg man accused of beating his 5-month-old foster daughter to death was put off Friday in Mendocino County Superior Court.

Wilson L. “Josh” Tubbs III, 38, faces a charge of child abuse resulting in death, which carries the same weight as murder, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

He appeared in court Friday for a pretrial conference, where his Aug. 26 trial was postponed.

Mendocino County Public Defender Linda Thompson, who represents Tubbs, said a list of 40-plus witnesses for the prosecution and defense raised concern about the trial possibly extending past two weeks and overlapping a homicide trial, scheduled for Sept. 9, for another of her clients.

Tubbs is due back in court Aug. 22 for a date-setting appearance. Thompson said she’s also concerned about defending back-to-back homicide cases.

Tubbs had on Dec. 2 brought the baby girl, who had months earlier been taken from her mother, to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital not breathing and blue, and with bruises on her face and head.

He initially claimed the infant was injured when she fell from a changing bench onto a hardwood floor in his house, and later admitted he slapped and violently shook the baby, the Fort Bragg Police Department reported previously.

The baby girl was flown to Oakland Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Dec. 4. Tubbs was arrested Dec. 10 in her death, and remains in custody at the Mendocino County Jail under $500,000 bail.

A child abuse specialist who examined baby Emerald Herriet at Oakland Children’s Hospital testified at Tubbs’ May preliminary hearing that she found at least 49 bruises on the baby’s head and face, two skull fractures, multiple hemorrhages in her retinas and severe subdural hematoma — the accumulation of blood between the brain’s surface and inside of the skull — all indicating the baby girl was likely abused over a period of time.”

Trial of Fort Bragg foster father in death of 5 month old foster daughter postponed

[Ukiah Daily Journal 8/17/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 5: “Judge John Behnke scheduled Tubbs’ trial to start with jury selection on Sept. 16. The prosecution is expected to begin presenting evidence and calling witnesses the following Monday, Sept. 23.

 

Citing a list of 40-plus witnesses for the prosecution and defense combined, Mendocino County Public Defender Linda Thompson — who represents Tubbs — last week asked for an extension of the original Aug. 26 trial. Behnke finalized the dates in court Wednesday.

 

Thompson estimated the trial may take between eight and 12 court days.

 

Tubbs had on Dec. 2 brought the baby girl, who had months earlier been taken from her mother, to Mendocino Coast District Hospital not breathing and blue, and with bruises on her face and head.

 

He initially claimed the infant was injured when she fell from a changing bench onto a hardwood floor in his house, and later admitted he slapped and violently shook the baby, the Fort Bragg Police Department reported previously.

 

The baby girl was flown to Oakland Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Dec. 4. Tubbs was arrested Dec. 10 in her death, and remains in custody at the Mendocino County Jail under $500,000 bail.

 

A child abuse specialist who examined baby Emerald Herriet at Oakland Children’s Hospital testified at Tubbs’ May preliminary hearing that she found at least 49 bruises on the baby’s head and face, two skull fractures, multiple hemorrhages in her retinas and severe subdural hematoma — the accumulation of blood between the brain’s surface and inside of the skull — all indicating the baby girl was likely abused over a period of time.”

 

Mendocino County trial in baby’s death rescheduled

[Ukiah Daily Journal 8/22/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 6/September 18, 2013

“A Fort Bragg foster father accused of beating a 5-month-old baby girl to death will likely take the witness stand to refute the charge at his upcoming trial, his defense attorney, Public Defender Linda Thompson, announced in Mendocino County Superior Court this week.

Willson L. “Josh” Tubbs III, 39, of Fort Bragg, faces a charge of child abuse resulting in death, which carries the same weight as first-degree murder and a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

“This is the type of case where it’s all or nothing,” Thompson said in court during a Thursday hearing to prepare for the trial. “My client is likely to testify, and he’s going to deny that he put a hand on the baby.”

She clarified later that Tubbs would testify that he didn’t inflict the injuries that caused baby Emerald Herriet’s death. His time on the stand for Thompson’s direct examination — not counting the prosecutor’s cross-examination — “will be lengthy,” she told the court.

Tubbs brought the baby girl, who had months earlier been taken from her mother, to Mendocino Coast District Hospital on Dec. 2. The baby was not breathing and blue, and had bruises on her face and head.

Tubbs initially claimed the infant was injured when she fell from a changing bench onto a hardwood floor in his house, and later admitted to Fort Bragg police that he slapped and violently shook the baby.

The baby girl was flown to Oakland Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Dec. 4. Tubbs was arrested Dec. 10 in her death, and remains in custody at the Mendocino County Jail under $500,000 bail.

A child abuse specialist who examined baby Emerald at Oakland Children’s Hospital testified at Tubbs’ May preliminary hearing that she found at least 49 bruises on the baby’s head and face, two skull fractures, multiple hemorrhages in her retinas and severe subdural hematoma — the accumulation of blood between the brain’s surface and inside of the skull — all indicating the baby was likely abused over a period of time.

Thompson and prosecutor Paul Sequeira of the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office plan to call more than 40 witnesses for the trial. Jury selection begins Monday, and is expected to take the rest of the week. The trial is estimated to last between eight and 10 court days once a jury is seated and the prosecution starts to present evidence.”

Foster father expected to testify at trial in baby’s death

[Ukiah Daily Journal 9/13/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 7/September 24, 2013

“At what point officials noticed something wasn’t right with baby Emerald Herriet was a key question as the prosecution began calling witnesses in the trial for her Fort Bragg foster father, who stands accused of causing the 5-month-old’s death.

“On the 19th of June, 2012, a miracle arrived in the form of baby Emerald Rose Herriet,” said prosecutor Paul Sequeira of the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office. “The delivery was normal, and there were relatively little to no problems.”

Wilson L. “Josh” Tubbs III, 39, faces a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison if he is convicted of child abuse resulting in the baby’s death, which carries the same weight as murder, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

Tubbs brought the infant to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital Dec. 2 not breathing and blue, and with several bruises on her face and head, along with two skull fractures. She was flown to Oakland Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Dec. 4. Tubbs was arrested in her death Dec. 10.

Mendocino County Public Defender Linda Thompson, who represents Tubbs, told the jury during her opening arguments that they would hear from a medical expert who would say “there is no way to tell if a pre-existing brain condition contributed to baby Emerald’s death.”

The case is horrific, she acknowledged, adding, “It’s equally tragic that my client is accused of killing a 5-month-old baby he loved with all his heart.”

During his opening arguments, Sequeira chronicled for the jury how the baby had been taken from her mother at nine days old when a roommate reported the mother had handled the baby roughly during an argument. No evidence of fluid on the brain was found in an exam following that incident, Sequeira told the jury.

Nothing but a cleft palate was noted by the baby girl’s pediatrician or her interim caregiver until she was placed in the Tubbs’ home Oct. 31, Sequeira argued.

“Something isn’t right with baby Emerald after the move,” he said, describing how she was seen twice by child development experts at Early Start.

Maureen Peter, a language and speech specialist, and Christie Berrettini, a teacher specializing in children with special needs from birth to age 3, both testified Monday that baby Emerald was smiling, cooing, responsive to stimuli and generally happy during a half-hour observation Oct. 23.

“She was looking around, alert, making noises, reaching out,” Berrettini said. “She looked pretty typical that day.”

Neither woman had any concerns about the baby’s neurological health until Tubbs and his wife brought her back for a formal evaluation Nov. 13. Berrettini testified that the 5-month-old acted on that day like a newborn.

“She was a totally different child,” Peter said on the witness stand, describing baby Emerald’s second visit. “She was whining, crying, she was making no sounds at all; her tongue was on the right side of her mouth, drool was coming out of one side of her mouth; you couldn’t engage her; she looked like a very miserable child.”

Peter testified under Thompson’s cross-examination that Tubbs’ wife had been concerned the baby was possibly having seizures.

The baby’s birth mother had a history of substance abuse, mental health issues and prior CPS encounters, and had agreed to open a voluntary CPS case for monitoring when Emerald was born, according to the testimony of Charles Dunbar, a county CPS supervisor.

The foster parent who cared for the baby girl before she was placed with Tubbs had expressed concern about the child’s neurological health based the baby’s cleft palate and her birth mother’s mental health history.

Also at issue Monday was Tubbs’ claim that the injuries baby Emerald had when she arrived at the hospital Dec. 2 were caused by a fall from a 21-inch high changing surface the night before. Sequeira promised the jury medical experts who would refute that claim.

The trial continues today at 10:30 a.m.”

Baby death trial begins

[Ukiah Daily Journal 9/23/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

Update 8:

“On Tuesday, the second day of trial in Mendocino County Superior Court, Fort Bragg pediatrician Vicki Soloniuk testified that, other than a cleft palate, the child had what appeared to be fairly minor health problems until December 2. That’s the day Tubbs, whose wife is related to the baby’s father, brought her to the Mendocino Coast Hospital’s emergency room, unconscious and not breathing.

The baby was flown to Children’s Hospital in Oakland but soon after was declared brain dead. She was taken off life support a few days later and died, according to court testimony.

A CT scan of the child’s head showed it was fractured in two places and there was bleeding in her brain, Soloniuk testified. She also suffered numerous bruises.

Tubbs initially told police the child had fallen off a 21-inch-tall bench on Dec. 1 but that she initially seemed fine. He said he didn’t notice until the next day that something was wrong and took her to the hospital emergency room, police said.

Tubbs later told investigators that he had shaken and slapped the baby because she would not stop crying following the fall, police said.

Soloniuk testified Tuesday that the injuries the child suffered were not consistent with a fall.

Signs that the child’s health had declined first appeared in reports about two weeks before she died, according to court testimony.

A child development evaluation on Oct. 23 — a week before she was placed in foster care with Tubbs and his wife, Marte — indicated the child was healthy and happy, cooing and engaged, according to court testimony.

In the next evaluation, conducted Nov. 13, she was like a different child altogether, evaluators reported. She was whining, crying and appeared to have regressed, according to testimony.

Marte Tubbs reportedly was concerned that the child might have problems because her biological mother had mental health and substance abuse issues, according to testimony.

The child was taken from her biological mother shortly after birth because a concerned roommate reported that, during an argument, the mother had allowed the baby’s head to swing unsupported, according to police.

The child also began to have health problems in November, including scratched corneas and vomiting but they apparently were not initially considered significant problems, according to court testimony.

The prosecution portion of the trial continues Wednesday.”

Fort Bragg foster father on trial in baby’s death

[The Press Democrat 9/24/13 by Glenda Anderson]

“Fort Bragg physicians and child protective services officials missed opportunities to save the life of a 5-month-old girl, according to testimony Wednesday in the trial of Wilson “Josh” Lee Tubbs III, 39, who is charged with killing the foster child last year.

Five weeks before her death in December 2012, child development evaluators at the county Office of Education’s Early Start program noted dramatic changes in the the behavior of the infant, Emerald Herriot.

The child went from happy, healthy and cooing on Oct. 23, 2012 to being non-responsive, fussy and irritable. She was moaning and drooling during the Nov. 13 exam, according to the report. The report said she had reverted to the behavior of a day-old infant.

The child also had been vomiting and holding her tiny fists to her eyes, the report noted.

On Wednesday, Dr. Rachel Gilgoff, a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, said the report was “one of the saddest” she’d ever read because the symptoms reported were indicators of physical abuse and the report potentially could have saved the life of Emerald Herriot.

“She was clearly, clearly neurologically impaired,” Gilgoff said.

The two-person developmental evaluation team was alarmed by the child’s condition on Nov. 13. They told the child’s new foster parents, Tubbs and his wife, Marte, to immediately take the child to a neurologist. They also forwarded their report to Child Protective Services and the pediatrician to whom CPS ultimately referred the child.

A worried Marte Tubbs lobbied CPS to authorize an evaluation with a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco but the child was sent to a local pediatrician, said Public Defender Linda Thompson, who is representing Josh Tubbs against a charge of child abuse resulting in death. The charge carries a potential life sentence.

The Fort Bragg pediatrician who examined the baby, Dr. Vicki Soloniuk, apparently did not suspect abuse. She treated the child for the flu and referred her to an optometrist who treated the child for scratches on the corneas of her eyes, she testified on Tuesday. The optometrist reportedly did not find signs of bleeding in the child’s retinas, which would have been a sign of head trauma.

Soloniuk also was not alarmed by the unusual increase — about four inches — in the size of the child’s head in one month’s time, a likely indicator there was bleeding and swelling in her brain, Gilgoff said.

Gilgoff said it’s a sad fact that many child abuse cases go undiagnosed until it’s too late.

“Thirty percent of children with abusive head trauma were seen by a pediatrician for vomiting” and misdiagnosed before the true cause of their ailments were uncovered, she said. The No. 1 erroneous diagnosis is stomach flu, the diagnosis given for Emerald Herriot, she said.

Neither Soloniuk nor the optometrist immediately returned phone calls on Wednesday.

The Child Protective Services worker involved in the case referred questions to his supervisor, who could not be reached Wednesday.

CPS had authorized an extensive neurological exam on the baby when she was just over a week old because of potential harm caused when her birth mother allowed her head to swing freely during an argument. That exam found no problems. The child was taken from her mother and placed in a temporary foster home at that point. She was placed in the care of Josh and Marte Tubbs, on Oct. 31, less than two weeks before Early Start evaluators noted her dramatic decline. Marte Tubbs is a relative of the child’s biological father.

Josh Tubbs took the child, unresponsive and not breathing, to Mendocino Coast Hospital’s emergency room on Dec. 2. She was pronounced brain dead and taken off life support at Children’s Hospital a few days later. Tubbs initially told police the child had fallen from a 21-inch high bench the day before. He said she was fine then, but the next day he could see something was very wrong while she was in a swing. He said he yanked her from the swing, accidentally hitting her head on a post, then placed her on the hard floor to administer CPR, possibly hitting her head again.

He later told investigators from the District Attorney’s Office that he had slapped and shaken the child because she would not stop crying.

Gilgoff said the injuries the child suffered were the result of something much more violent. They were inconsistent with either a short fall or shaking alone. The injuries included two skull fractures, “massive” bleeding around the brain and more than 49 bruises on the child’s face and head. There also was bruising on her chest and one arm.

Gilgoff said it also appears that some of the bleeding in the brain was from an injury inflicted prior to the injuries that caused her death. An older injury is consistent with the symptoms the child displayed during her exams in November, Gilgoff said.

“It’s consistent with old and repeated trauma,” she said. “I’m convinced something had happened to her around Nov. 2.”

The trial is expected to last until the middle of next week.”

Testimony: Fort Bragg infant’s life could have been saved

[The Press Democrat 9/25/13 by Glenda Anderson]

Update:“Testimony from the daughter of a Fort Bragg foster father accused of beating and killing a five-month-old baby girl is in question as his trial enters its second week in Mendocino County Superior Court.

Wilson L. ‘Josh’ Tubbs III, 39, faces a charge of child abuse causing baby Emerald Herriet’s death, which carries the same weight as murder.

He was the baby girl’s primary caregiver, as the Mendocino Coast District Hospital, where he worked in the cafeteria, had just laid him off because of budget cuts and his wife worked during the day, according to prior witness statements.

His daughter, Shelby Tubbs, who was 17 at the time, finished her requirements for high school and graduated within days after the baby was placed in the Tubbs’ household Oct. 31, Shelby testified last week. She and her father were home with the baby most of the day together, except when Shelby would leave sometimes to hang out with friends, she said. Just she and her father had been with baby Emerald during the weekend she died.

Tubbs brought his five-month-old foster daughter not breathing and with bruises all over her face and head to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital on December 2. She was flown to Oakland Children’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead December 4.

Tubbs initially told police the baby’s injuries were caused by a fall from a 21-inch high changing bench the night before he took her to the hospital. He was arrested December 10 in the baby’s death.

Tubbs’ defense attorney, Public Defender Linda Thompson, said in her opening remarks last week that Tubbs hadn’t told police he slapped and shook the baby until he thought investigators suspected his daughter.

Whatever the case, it was clear that Shelby Tubbs was uncomfortable on the witness stand Thursday.

Prosecutor Paul Sequeira of the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office asked her if she was nervous — a standard question for an attorney to ask a witness who appears distressed.

“It’s been a rough day,” Ms. Tubbs said.

Sequeira’s line of questioning started simply, including questions about when the baby came to live with her family and how the baby acted when she had visited the family prior to moving in as part of a transition period between a previous foster home and the Tubbs’ home.

“She just laid there,” Ms. Tubbs said. “She liked to pull my hair; she thought it was funny … She never laughed, but she smiled.”

Two days before the baby died, Ms. Tubbs testified, she had one bruise on her forehead from hitting herself with a rattle that was a set of thick, plastic keys.

Ms. Tubbs said she had taken the baby over to her aunt’s house next door for several hours the next day, December 1. Sequeira asked what, other than giving the baby a bath, they had done with her there.

“We tried to make her play with the keys, but she never played with anything,” Ms. Tubbs said. “She was just laying there like she always does. She never really did much.”

She saw no injuries on baby Emerald during the bath that day, or when the baby was sleeping in her swing that night next to her dad, who sat on the couch. Ms. Tubbs said she went out with friends for about an hour that night and returned at about 8:30 p.m.

“There was a mark on her eye,” she told the court.

Sequeira asked if it had been a black eye.

Ms. Tubbs described the mark as “more red than black,” and Sequeira asked if it had “freaked (her) out a little bit.”

“I wanted to know what happened,” Ms. Tubbs said, telling the court that her father had told her that baby Emerald had hit her head on the same set of plastic keys on the changing pad when he had rolled her over to change her.

Sequeira asked if the mark on the baby’s eye had looked “nasty,” and Ms. Tubbs said it hadn’t.

Sequeira showed her a picture a Fort Bragg police officer had taken of a text conversation she’d had with a friend that night. The friend had asked what was wrong.

“Just everything going on and the baby won’t stop crying, and she has like black and blue on her eye like she fell or something, Idk (expletive)’,” Sequeira read from Ms. Tubbs’ texted reply.

Sequeira asked her again if the baby’s eye injury had been upsetting, as the text exchange seemed to indicate that Ms. Tubbs was upset.

“I’ve had a rough life; not at home,” she answered.

“”It sounds like you were upset,” Sequeira said. “Were you?”

“No,” Ms. Tubbs answered.

He asked again if the baby’s eye had been black and blue.

“It was not like somebody just punched somebody in the face,” Ms. Tubbs said, adding later that her father’s explanation about baby Emerald rolling onto the rattle had made sense to her.

Ms. Tubbs said she went to bed with the TV on in her room with the volume low, and hadn’t heard the baby cry that night.

Wilson Tubbs told police that while changing Emerald that night at about 11pm, he’d left the room temporarily and came back when he heard the baby’s “serious cry,” according to previous witness testimony.

Ms. Tubbs testified that she saw “three or four” bruises on Emerald’s face the next morning as she slept in her swing, “including the one that was already there.”

The amount of bruising on Emerald’s face and head when she arrived hours later at the emergency room was alarming enough to prompt the ER doctor to call for CT scan, according to the doctor’s testimony.

Sequeira asked Ms. Tubbs if her father had told her when she asked about the bruising that the family’s dog had possibly knocked baby Emerald off of the changing bench onto a hardwood floor.

The question seemed to aggravate Ms. Tubbs, who confirmed that was what her father had said, and that it made sense to her at the time.

Sequeira asked Ms. Tubbs whether she had later told Officer Wilder of the Fort Bragg Police Department that she was “having problems figuring out how that had happened logically.”

He asked her if she had told the officer that she “didn’t want (her) dad to go away for something he didn’t do, but it didn’t make sense how it happened if somebody didn’t do it.”

Ms. Tubbs said she didn’t recall.

Sequeira asked her if her father’s explanation made sense now, and she said it did.

“I believe what my dad told me; why would he lie to me?” Ms. Tubbs said.

Sequeira asked her again about her initial statement to officers after baby Emerald’s death that she had been struggling with the logic of her father’s claim that the baby’s injuries came from a fall off of the changing bench.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about it,” she said. “The baby had passed away; I was dealing with other things.”

Ms. Tubbs later testified under Thompson’s questioning that baby Emerald had “made little fists and held them over her eyes” constantly, starting a few days after she came to live with the family.

Sequeira later asked her if she had previously told officer Wilder that the baby “always laughed” when she first arrived.

“I could have said that but I don’t recall her laughing,” Ms. Tubbs said.

Sequeira said Emerald “didn’t just lay there,” but must have played with the rattle she hit herself with, and Ms. Tubbs agreed. He asked her if she had told officer Wilder that the baby had been “”good until the visit with her birth mom” five days before the emergency room visit.

The woman who took baby Emerald to Willits for that visit had previously testified that the baby seemed unwell on the trip to the visit, but had seemed better on the way back.

“She acted different after coming back from the visit with the birth parents,” Ms. Tubbs testified.

Sequeira had also asked her if she had told police that the marks on baby Emerald’s face had upset her enough that she “just wanted to get out of there.”

Ms. Tubbs said she’d been “concerned,” but that the baby had acted “normal” and had eaten about half of what she usually did.

Sequeira told the court he intended to call officer Wilder to the stand on Tuesday, October 1 to impeach Ms. Tubbs as a witness.”

Tubbs’ Daughter Struggles Through Testimony[Anderson Valley Advertiser 10/1/13 by Tiffany Revelle]

“A Fort Bragg man was sentenced Friday, Dec. 13, to 25 years to life in state prison for the beating death of his five-month-old foster daughter in a case a Mendocino County Superior Court judge described as particularly disturbing, District Attorney David Eyster’s office reported in a news release this afternoon.

The release states:

“I can’t imagine a crime much worse than this one,” said Judge John Behnke before sentencing Wilson Lee Tubbs III, 39, to the maximum prison term. Tubbs, who has no prior criminal record, technically was entitled to be considered for probation, but Judge Behnke said Friday that was not an option.

“Tubbs was convicted in October by a jury of causing great bodily injury leading to the death of a child, but Judge Behnke said the beating death in late 2012 of Emerald Herriot was “murder by any other word.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira, who prosecuted Tubbs, said Behnke’s sentence means the 39-year-old Tubbs will serve at least 20 years before he can be considered for parole.

” ‘This man should never see the light of day,’ Sequeira said.

“Sequeira said Tubbs’ sentence was the same as if he had been convicted of murder. Sequeira said the DA’s office decided to charge Tubbs with felony child abuse causing death instead of a murder charge because of the potential for a similar prison sentence while avoiding some of the complications of a murder trial, including the need to show intent to kill and implied malice. The charged filed against Tubbs was established by legislation in 1994 to help with difficult prosecutions of people believed to have killed a child through abuse.

“Sequeira cited trial testimony of medical experts who said the infant’s injuries were among the most horrific they had seen. Medical examinations disclosed 57 bruises over her face and head, two skull fractures, and massive bleeding in her brain.

“On Friday the infant’s natural father made an emotion plea for Tubbs’ prison sentence. The infant’s maternal grandmother also spoke in favor of the state prison term.””

Tubbs gets state prison term for baby’s death[Fort Bragg Advocate-News 12/13/13]