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A man convicted in 1992 of beating his infant daughter could be indicted for murder after a medical examiner testified Tuesday that the injuries the child sustained 23 years ago caused her 2013 death after a lifetime of illness.
In a preliminary hearing, General Sessions Court Judge Barry Tidwell found probable cause to send a murder charge against Anthony S. Lane to the January session of the Rutherford County grand jury.
Lane, 42, formerly of Cheatham Place, was convicted in 1992 of aggravated child abuse of his 1-month-old daughter, Amanda. He is now serving time in a state prison for aggravated child abuse of a son.
Amanda Lane Woodall died Aug. 30, 2013 from a combination of cerebral palsy, development delay, cortical blindness and pneumonia, which were caused by remote blunt head trauma, according to an autopsy report. The autopsy conducted by Dr. Erin Carney of the Nashville medical examiner's office ruled homicide as the cause of death.
The victim had a normal delivery other than being born prematurely but sustained numerous health problems from blunt force trauma, Carney said Tuesday, testifying for the defense.
"Cerebral palsy resulted from her head injury and brain injury," Carney said during questioning from defense attorney Brock East.
Under cross-examination from Assistant District Attorney J. Paul Newman, Carney reiterated that the blow to the head Amanda suffered at 1 month caused her lifetime of sickness and ultimately led to her death, which was ruled a homicide.
Amanda was admitted to Vanderbilt hospital in August 2013 with pneumonia and died about 10 days later when her family decided to remove her from a life-support system.
Amanda's adoptive mother, Nancy Woodall, who has had some 400 foster children, took custody of the child at 3 months after another foster parent said she couldn't take care of her. Doctors advised her Amanda's life expectancy was 12 to 18 months, Woodall testified.
The mother described Amanda's life as a fragile child, one in which she had to be monitored constantly to make sure she didn't aspirate and choke to death.
"There was no difference in day or night because she was blind," Woodall testified, fighting back tears to speak.
Each day, Amanda had to be fed, changed, given medication through a tube and put through range-of-motion exercises to keep her limbs from atrophying. Then the process would start again, said Woodall, who noted that Amanda's bed was right next to hers along with a suction tube used to keep her throat clear.
"Amanda could do nothing. She had no voluntary movement. Her only movement was her seizures," Woodall said. Yet the mother described how Amanda could laugh even though she had dozens of seizures daily, "She was always very happy. She smiled all the time."
Woodall said she took another of her children to Vanderbilt hospital for treatment the morning Amanda got sick in August 2013. The nurse hired to care for her while Woodall was gone called and told her something was wasn't quite right. Woodall urged her to call 911 immediately.
Amanda was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she was diagnosed with pneumonia, an illness she suffered several times over the years. Woodall told the defense attorney she had no indication Amanda was ill and wouldn't have gone to the doctor's office otherwise.
"Two days before she died they told me she was growing too many bugs, too many strains in her lungs, so they transferred her to palliative care," Woodall testified.
Once the family decided to remove her from life support, an autopsy was conducted and later she was cremated, according to testimony.
Under questioning Tuesday, Rutherford County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Dan Goodwin read the autopsy report in court and told defense attorneys the Criminal Investigation Division was notified when the medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide.
Sheriff's Detective Chuck Thomas, now assigned to the U.S. Marshal's Office, investigated the aggravated child abuse case against Lane in 1991. Former Detective J.D. Driver, now a public defender, worked with him on the case.
Thomas testified that he was summoned to Vanderbilt hospital where a doctor described the child's symptoms. Thomas said he questioned Lane three times.
The first time Lane said he dropped the child, according to Thomas, and the second time he made a statement that he struck the baby with an open hand once and then dropped her. In his third statement, Lane said he struck the child three times with an open hand and dropped her, Thomas said.
"He was upset because the child was crying," Thomas testified, noting he reviewed a transcript but could remember the interview "like it was yesterday."
Newman is being aided in the prosecution by Katherine Redding, a public interest fellow from Washington & Lee University.
