Toddler death: Estranged husband, detective describe mother's behavior

An Atlanta child abuse pediatrician told a Muscogee County Superior Court jury on Tuesday the injuries that killed an 18-month-old toddler in January 2012 almost certainly were not caused by an accident.

Jennifer Long faces murder and child cruelty charges in the death of Alexis Long, a toddler she and her husband, Timothy Long, had adopted months earlier. Long is accused of battering the child against a wooden changing table, splintering it, prosecutor George Lipscomb has asserted.

Timothy Long, who has been separated from his wife since the child died, also testified Tuesday during the first day of the trial.

Dr. Stephen Messner, a pediatrician at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, testified about the injuries Alexis Long long suffered on Jan. 29, 2012. Messner examined Alexis Long after she was transported from Midtown Medical Center to Atlanta, where she was in an intensive care unit and unresponsive.

He graphically described multiple bruises, cuts and scratches from the child’s head to her lower legs. About 70 photos of those injuries were shown to the jury as Messner described the injuries. Jennifer Long sat motionless looking toward the television monitor as the images flashed on the screen. The mostly female jury watched intently. Judge Ron Mullins stood directly behind Jennifer Long as he watched the photos being shown to the jury.

The child died from a fatal brain injury, Messner said.

“This wouldn’t be short fall, 4 to 5 feet,” he said. “See some swelling on scalp. Sometimes a fracture where impacted. They don’t get this overwhelming a brain injury. We don’t see children dying from shortfalls — less than 1 in a million a year. Toddlers fall. That is what they do. But they don’t suffer fatal injuries from those falls.”

Force to the child’s head caused the injury and retinal hemorrhages, Messner told the jury.

“It isn’t like one little collection of trauma,” the doctor said. “It was significant force on the back of the eye."

It was an injury similar to those seen from a high-speed crash or a fall from a high distance, Messner said.

The prosecution also showed the jury social media photos of Alexis and posts from Jennifer Long’s Facebook page. The doctor pointed out bruises and marks to the child in those photos. In some of the posts, Jennifer Long is talking about Alexis temper and her tantrums.

On the day the child suffered the fatal injuries the Longs went from Columbus to Griffin, Ga., where he was preaching.

Timothy Long, in a very unemotional testimony, told of what happened that Sunday afternoon when they got home from Griffin after 3 p.m. The child was fine while they were in Griffin, Timothy Long testified.

“Alexis was fine, she ran around and played,” Timothy Long testified. “On the way home, she was a little fussy, but she fell asleep. Jennifer got her out of car seat put her on ground, and she had a tantrum. She began screaming and hollering.”

Timothy Long opened the door and let his wife and child in the house. He then returned to his car to put his glasses back in it.

“Jennifer was going to take Alexis to her room and get her changed,” Timothy Long testified. “While I was at the car, I heard a loud noise. Sounded like it was in the direction of Alexis’ room. Went into the house and asked Jennifer if she heard a noise. She said no, but there was something wrong with Alexis.”

Timothy Long then went into the room and found Alexis on the floor.

“It looked like she had vomit in her mouth,” he said. “I sat her up. She was droopy and not responsive to calling her name.”

The baby also was breathing heavily as Timothy Long called 911. Emergency responders arrived quickly and “scooped up” the baby, Timothy Long said.

When they got to Midtown Medical Center, the doctor asked the couple what happened. Timothy Long said he told him what he had just told the jury.

“The doctor pretty much rolled his eyes and said she had blunt-force trauma,” Timothy Long said. “Detectives came and separated us.”

Timothy Long is facing one count of second-degree child cruelty. He told the jury that he had agreed to a plea deal that would keep him out of prison in exchange for testimony against his estranged wife.

Lipscomb asked Timothy Long, who was working as an electrical inspector for the city of Columbus at the time of Alexis’ death, if he had made a deal with prosecutors to lessen his sentence.

Timothy Long said yes and that his attorney had told him it would be in his best interest.

“I will not have jail time,” Timothy Long said.

Defense attorney Tim Flournoy told the jury during opening statements that his client was an unemotional person.

“A number of witnesses will tell you my client appeared calm,” he said. “They are going to tell you she was calm. We are going to call people who know her and have known her all her life. We are going to show she is one of the people who does not show emotion.”

That was the scene Lt. Debra Bohannon, a Columbus Police detective, described as she told the jury of Jennifer Long going into a room to see her baby at Midtown Medical Center before the child was transported to a Atlanta.

“She walked in the room, looked in the direction of the baby and got next to the table,” Bohannon said. “She appeared to be looking over the baby. At some point she petted her, then put her hand back down. That was the end. She did not talk to the baby.”

The Longs then went to Atlanta, and she was interviewed a fourth time by police after 8 p.m. the next day when police asked them to return to Columbus.

Flournoy said Long had been up 36 hours and had been in Atlanta before she was subjected to a four-hour police interview.

“She steadfastly denies she did anything to harm the child,” Flournoy said. “But she was not telling them what they wanted to hear. Finally, she tells Detective Stewart Carter that she did not realize she had thrown the baby on the changing table. You have to decide if that statement was freely and voluntarily given or was part of this prolonged process.”

Flournoy then pointed out the police let Long leave without arresting her.

“One conclusion you can draw is they let her go home because she did not intentionally harm the child,” Flournoy said.

The trial will resume Wednesday morning.

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Toddler death: Estranged husband, detective describe mother's behavior."