Former SRS investigator claimed that a probe of possible day care fraud might have prevented Damion's death

Posted on Fri, May. 21, 2010

Bloody towel, gun at issue in hearing in case of slain 2-year-old

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

Affidavit: Toddler's death was avoidable
Grandmother: How did SRS lose child?

As approaching sirens got louder, a neighbor saw DeWhite Cameron take two things from a rental house near 13th and Hillside one day in 2008.
Prosecutors said in court today that those two things turned out to be a bloody towel, later found with trash, and a gun, later found in a brush pile. The towel bore the blood of 2-year-old Damion Thomas, the son of Cameron's girlfriend. The sirens sounded as emergency crews responded to a report that Damion was not breathing.
No evidence indicated the gun was used to harm Damion, but as a convicted felon, Cameron was not supposed to have a gun.
The information came out in a Sedgwick County District Court hearing in preparation for Cameron's trial, which begins Monday with jury selection, and possibly opening arguments that afternoon.
Cameron, 28, is charged in Damion's death with first-degree murder done in the commission of child abuse, and two counts of aggravated battery against Damion and his twin brother.
Damion's mother, Shaneekwa Saunders, has pleaded guilty to aggravated child endangerment and been placed on probation. She admitted leaving her children with Cameron — her live-in boyfriend — while she worked, from April 1 to Sept. 18, 2008.
In a past interview, Cameron's defense attorney, Lee McMaster, has said that part of Cameron's defense "may well be that others, or another, were involved in the death."
Today's hearing also made clear that Damion's older brother, now 5, could be called to testify.
In previous articles about the case, the Eagle has reported:
* That SRS, the state child protection agency, had been involved in Damion's life after his birth because of concerns about his well-being and that SRS closed its case on the family because it couldn't locate them after they moved.
* That Damion suffered abuse for months before a fatal beating, and that he bore bruises and scars from head to toe and extensive internal injuries.
* That Damion's mother was receiving state-funded aid to take him to a day care home — but was not leaving him there — during the period when he was injured. And that a former SRS investigator claimed that a probe of possible day care fraud might have prevented Damion's death — if the investigation hadn't been blocked by SRS, a claim the agency denied.
In court today, after hearing arguments from the defense attorney and from prosecutors about what evidence can be presented, District Judge Greg Waller said he was inclined to allow testimony that as emergency crews approached Damion's home at Erie and 13th, the neighbor saw Cameron carry two things from the home.
Waller said evidence about the bloody towel was relevant but that he thought testimony about the gun would be prejudicial and that the gun was not tied to the boy's injuries.
Prosecutors Kim Parker and Shannon Wilson had contended that the gun also was relevant to Cameron's state of mind and showed that while the boy was in "acute distress" in the home, Cameron was busy taking objects from the house.
McMaster, the defense attorney, also argued with the prosecutors over whether Damion's older brother, who was 3 years and 11 months old at the time of the incident, really understands, at age 5 now, the meaning of telling the truth.
The boy was gently escorted to the witness stand, and a can of root beer was placed in front of him. He slowly twisted back and forth in the seat and smiled shyly. In a soft voice, he said he knew the difference between the truth and a lie.
McMaster told Waller that his client would be at a disadvantage having to face a "darling" child witness and a jury "outraged by the nature of this case."
"Judge, they're going to love this kid (the 5-year-old)... and they're going to love these ladies (Parker and Wilson)." But the jurors will "hate me," McMaster added.
Waller said that although his decision could change, "at this time, I believe he is a qualified witness."
The two sides also discussed how to handle autopsy photos that jurors will see.
Waller said the key is presenting photos if they are relevant evidence, but not if they are repetitive or gruesome.

Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/05/21/1324728/bloody-towel-gun-at-issue-in-hearing.html#ixzz0oitZJTtj