GUILTY NC - Jaydon Sandlin, 20 mos, scalded & beaten to death, 3 May 2013

According to the warrants, both children sustained “scalding burns” to various parts of their bodies. Jaydon’s burns were to his buttocks and the back of both legs. Kylie’s burns were to her head, shoulder, legs and feet. The burns resulted in “scarring and open wounds” to both children, the warrants say.

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An earlier DSS hearing found Lail was responsible for scalding burns to both children, Van Buren said. Testimony at that hearing indicated Jaydon had 101 injuries to his body, including bruises, marks and broken ribs, he said.

Van Buren painted a bleak picture of the lives of the Sandlin children. He said Lail and Weathers left the children strapped in car seats or locked in a closet instead of watching them, and when scalding burns to Jaydon made it difficult to put diapers on him, he went without...

Van Buren said Lail had been going to a methadone clinic before his arrest, and he didn’t know why anyone would go to such a clinic if he or she was not addicted to drugs

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A Hickory woman arrested in 2013, accused of abusing her 1-year-old son, was sentenced to prison Friday.

Whitney Ann Weathers, 25, was given an active prison term of three to eight years after pleading guilty to one count of child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury and four counts of child abuse inflicting serious physical injury.

Weathers' then-boyfriend, William Howard Lail III, is charged with murder in the death of her son.

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She issued an apology in court, saying, “I’m sorry for failing you all and my kids, and making bad choices.”

Friday, the judge imposed five consecutive active prison sentences for Weathers following her guilty plea. She will serve those sentences in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.

“I’ve been on the bench since 1998, and this is one of the most difficult cases I’ve heard,” Judge Lisa C. Bell said. “I can’t even begin to fathom the loss.”

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AnonymousD said:

http://www.hickoryrecord.com/news/article_5eef8b54-b8f3-11e2-81c5-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=story

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A Hickory man facing murder and child abuse charges will stand trial in Catawba County Superior Court next week.

William Howard Lail III faces one felony count of first-degree murder, four felony counts of intentional child abuse resulting in serious physical injury, one misdemeanor count of failure to appear and one misdemeanor count of probation violation.

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He said he first responded to what he thought was a cardiac arrest, and when arrived to the scene, he saw Jaydon on the floor face down. He was able to quickly determine the child had no pulse.

“He was cold to the touch,” Riley said. “He was stiff.”

Jayne asked if he administered any first aid. He replied he didn’t because Jaydon was dead.

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The next few witnesses to the stand described to the court the condition of Lail, Jaydon and Kylie upon arrival and after spending time on the scene.

“(Kylie) had marks littered across her body,” said Joshua Rector, the first officer from the Long View Police Department on the scene. “I could feel a large scab on her back, near her neck.”

When asked about Kylie’s condition, Rector became overwhelmed with emotion, taking a second to gather himself before answering Adams’ question.

“I guess she was kind of lifeless,” he said, pausing. “She had no clothes on and was wearing a diaper that was completely soaked and mushy. She was dirty, had been for some time.”

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Maggie Ervin, Jaydon and Kylie’s grandmother, made around a half a dozen phone calls to social services prior to Jaydon’s death about the condition of the children and about her daughter Whitney Weathers’ treatment of the children.

Soon after Weathers and Lail started a relationship, Ervin noticed physical and emotional changes in the children, and she began to see them less despite living nearby, Ervin said.

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During her testimony, Weathers described Lail as manipulative and abusive, with the majority of the physical abuse aimed toward the children once the couple moved into the Long View residence, the last place they lived together.

About a week and a half before Jaydon’s death, Weathers came home to find severe burns on the children.

“First, he said it was a diaper rash reaction,” she said. “I told him, ‘No way, those are burns.’”

Weathers said she begged Lail to allow her to take Jaydon and Kylie the hospital, but he refused.

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Throughout the first two hours, the agents questioned Lail about several other topics other than the day Jaydon died.

“You didn’t want to be a parent, did you?” Sharpe asked.

Lail responded, “I didn’t want the responsibility of being a dad. I told (Whitney) every day.”

He also admitted to leaving the children home alone on multiple occasions in either their car seats or on a blanket in the closet.

“I’ll admit to s----- parenting,” he said. “I should’ve had more eyes on them.”

While he did admit to leaving the children alone, Lail told the agents he never punched, smacked or physically abused them, only disciplined them with “a pop on the hand, butt or legs.”

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There were several intense moments in Catawba County Superior Court on Friday, including when the jury heard the defendant admit to investigators in his post-arrest interview the victim was dead when he removed him from the bathtub.

However, in the first two hours of his post-arrest interview, the jury heard Thursday afternoon William Howard Lail III tell Marc Sharpe and Heath McBride, State Bureau of Investigation assistant special agents in charge, Jaydon Ray Sandlin, 1, was conscious when he was removed from the bathtub.

During the final two hours, Sharpe and McBride testified they used the skills they learned in seven different interrogation courses to lead Lail to a confession.

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Summer described her scabs as thicker than what he’s seen in his close to 30 years as a medical professional.

“In my opinion, these (injuries) did not fit the accidental pattern,” he said.

He testified the bruises on Kylie’s back and other parts of her body were not in the typical places he has seen on toddlers and young children.

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McLemore’s autopsy ruled the cause of death as “presumed drowning,” with blunt force injuries, including the burns, as contributing factors.

McLemore’s autopsy found 135 to 140 individual injuries internally and externally on Jaydon, with the majority of the injuries being bruises and burns.

Jaydon had healing burns and scalding injuries at the top of his head, upper thighs and buttocks, along with scattered, smaller healing burns across his body that were all at least second-degree burns, McLemore added.

McLemore concluded, like Summer did with Kylie, Jaydon’s injuries did not match the scalding story Lail told investigators.

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Dr. Sharon Cooper, a developmental and forensic pediatrician and retired U.S. Army Colonel, was asked to testify regarding the evidence Jaydon Ray Sandlin’s death and injuries were not accidental.

“It is my opinion (Jaydon’s death) was non-accidental because of the other signs of abuse,” she told the jury.

“The distribution of (Jaydon’s) burns are not consistent with the history (of what happened),” Cooper said.

“When burns are concentrated on the buttocks and back of the legs, research shows the child was dipped in the water,” Cooper said.

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Upon examination of the crime scene photos, Cooper noticed something unusual.

“There was an absence of water on the floor, in the bathtub and an absence of towels,” Cooper said.

Typically when there’s an accidental drowning in a bathtub, there will be water on the floor and a tub of water, she added.

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In cross examination from Assistant District Attorney Michael Van Buren, Van Buren asked Lail to explain why he lied to investigators multiple times at the scene of the incident and during his four-hour post-arrest interview.

“I was ashamed of what happened,” he said.

When describing to the jury how he found Jaydon dead in the bathtub, he became emotional and said it was hard for him to picture how he found the child.

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After taking Kylie out of the tub and drying her hair, he left Jaydon in the tub and went outside.

Some time passed, Lail couldn’t remember how much, and he made a few phone calls using an app on the computer because his cellphone did not work.

“I came in looking for him and realized he was still in the tub,” Lail said, crying.

When he walked into the bathroom, he saw Jaydon lying face-up.

“It was like he was floating,” he said, describing Jaydon’s face as partially underwater, with his eyes closed. “I took him out and tried to do CPR.”

“I have a very hard time, even today, it's hard for me to picture in my mind how I found him,” Lail said, facing the jury. “What happened could’ve been avoided, and I wasn’t paying attention.”

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Van Buren shared his theory with Lail about what happened.

“Jaydon pooped on the floor and you got mad and threw him in the tub and murdered him, didn’t you?” he asked, adding that’s why Lail doesn’t remember the bruises being on Jaydon’s forehead when he died.

Lail grimaced at the accusation and said, “I did not murder him.”

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The state, represented by Assistant District Attorneys Jamie Adams and Michael Van Buren, presented two theories of first-degree murder: first-degree murder by premeditation and deliberation and first-degree murder by torture.

The jury may choose to find Lail not guilty of first-degree murder, but guilty of second-degree or involuntary manslaughter instead.

“If you find Lail guilty of second-degree murder, you’ll have to ignore all sorts of the state’s evidence,” Adams said. “Almost all of it.”

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A major point of the defense’s closing argument was placing the blame on Weathers for the abuse, recalling Maggie Ervin, Weathers’ mother’s testimony, where she described witnessing Weathers hit the children.

She then asked the jury to consider second-degree or involuntary manslaughter as possible convictions before playing them the recording of Lail’s May 3, 911 call, where he sounded distressed and told the operator, “He’s not breathing.”

“Ladies and gentleman, does that sound like the voice of a cold-blooded killer?,” she concluded.

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As of Tuesday afternoon, the jury had been deliberating for roughly 7.5 hours in Catawba County Superior Court.

To aid in their deliberations, the jury has asked for a printed copy of Bridges’ instructions, copies of the photo evidence, a more detailed definition of what the word “intentional” means as it pertains to the law, a copy of Whitney Weathers’ divorce documents and the full transcript of Lail’s testimony.

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