OLYMPIA, Wash. — A Thurston County jury began hearing testimony Monday in the murder trial of Eric Boudreau, accused of killing his girlfriend’s 13-month-old son.
Boudreau was babysitting the child on Veterans Day 2022.
He claims the toddler, known as “Baby Jace,” died after falling down the stairs, but medical examiners concluded the child’s injuries were consistent with abuse rather than an accidental fall.
The child’s mother, Melinda Shaw, testified as the first witness, describing her son as “curious” and “sassy” with “a little bit of personality that was trying to come through.”
Jace was learning to walk when his daycare closed for Veterans Day, and Shaw asked Boudreau, her boyfriend at the time, to babysit.
Shaw told jurors something was wrong with Boudreau that morning.
“He was emotional,” she testified. “He was crying, he was on his knees and he was crying in the living room.”
Boudreau’s defense attorney said his client had been partying with friends all night and got into an argument.
Later that day, Boudreau called Shaw saying her son was unconscious and unresponsive.
When she arrived home after calling 911, she found Jace covered in bruises. “This was a very different bruising,” Shaw told jurors, noting her son had bruises before.
She described Boudreau as “really scared” while attempting CPR.
“He was holding him, saying his name,” said Shaw, ‘Back and forth between trying to help him and crying, frantically.”
After Jace was declared dead, Boudreau told police he had taken a nap and found the boy unconscious at the bottom of the stairs upon waking. However, prosecutors detailed extensive injuries inconsistent with a fall.
“They saw bruising at the bottom of feet. They saw bruising on his legs. They saw bruising on his ear. They saw bruising inside his ear. They saw bruising behind his ear, and they saw massive bruising all over his face,” Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Olivia Zhou told jurors.
The defense maintains Boudreau is not a killer, emphasizing his attempts to save Jace’s life.
“He’s never given CPR on an adult, let alone a young child. Mr. Boudreau is sitting there, beating on this child’s chest, blowing into his mouth, trying to bring life into this child,” his attorney, Anthony Martinez, said.
The trial is expected to last weeks. It remains unclear whether Boudreau will testify.
트위터 공유: 아기 사망 사건 진실 규명 시작