The Bridgeport nanny standing trial in the death of an infant 20 years ago Tuesday waived her right to have the court consider her offense under the lesser legal standard for homicide.

With jurors out of hearing, Melissa Haskell, 38, who is charged with third-degree felony murder, told Montgomery County Court Judge Garrett D. Page that she did not wish to have the charge downgraded to involuntary manslaughter.

"So you're going with all or nothing," Page said. "Yes," Haskell replied.

If convicted of manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor in 1992, Haskell could have been sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

By insisting on the third-degree felony charge, she exposes herself to the far greater penalty of 10 to 20 years in jail.

Asked to explain his client's thinking, defense counsel Frank Genovese said: "She has steadily maintained her innocence from the first day we met.

“She didn't want to create a situation where that would be compromised, and the jury would find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter. She didn't want to create that risk."

The development came near the end of the seventh day of testimony before the jury of eight men and four women. The defense rested in late afternoon; closing arguments begin early Wednesday.

In a calm, clear voice, Haskell also told Page from the witness stand that she would not testify in her own defense. She does not have to, and her decision cannot be used against her.

"I 100 percent agree with it — not to testify," Genovese said in a news briefing in the Norristown courtroom.

Haskell, then 18, was caring for five-month-old Ryan Baurley in Bridgeport on Aug. 26, 1992, when he died. The coroner attributed his death to sudden infant death syndrome.

The case was reopened in 2011 when Haskell's estranged husband, whom she was fighting for custody of their own 6-year-old son, approached police.

Michael Leflar told investigators she had told him she "put her hand over the baby's mouth and nose" to quiet his crying while she was ill from heroin withdrawal.

After reviewing the case, Coroner Walter I. Hofman changed the cause of death to suffocation, with a secondary cause of acute alcohol intoxication, due to high blood-alcohol levels in a sample of the baby's blood.

Hofman changed the manner of death to homicide, the basis for the murder charge against Haskell.

During testimony Tuesday, two expert witnesses tried to challenge Hofman's interpretation of details in the autopsy report.

George Jackson, a forensic toxicologist who works in Bensalem, testified he could not rule out fermentation of the blood sample as the source of the high alcohol readings. The prosecution had tried to make a case that Haskell gave the baby whiskey to quiet him.

Edward Chmara, a New Jersey forensic pathologist, testified that both cause and manner of death should be ruled "undetermined."

"There is no scientific evidence to back up suffocation. There are no photos to back up suffocation. There is nothing that changed except a statement that came forward from a concerned citizen," he testified.

Chmara testified that most of the baby's organs showed congestion or the backup of fluids typical of any death. That would not necessarily be caused by suffocation, he testified.

He regarded as unremarkable the baby's enlarged brain and larynx, which Hofman had testified were abnormally swollen, pointing to suffocation.

As a rebuttal witness for the prosecution, Hofman said his reading of the enlarged organs as abnormal came straight out of the pediatrics textbook.

"The brain is too big, the lungs and liver are congested. All of these are abnormal findings," Hofman testified.

Ex-husband testifies against alleged infant killer Melissa Haskell

By Jenny DeHuff - TimesHerald.com

June 8, 2012

COURTHOUSE — A lot of weight hinges on the value of a pinky swear, as the ex-husband of the babysitter charged with the murder of an infant testified Friday morning.

Michael Leflar wore a wire when he got Melissa Haskell to admit to the killing of 5-month old Ryan Baurley nearly 20 years ago. The hour-long tape was played in court Thursday and the jury heard testimony of Leflar Friday morning, saying his ex-wife, Melissa Haskell, “pinky” swore she would never do anything to hurt their son.

On the stand for more than two hours Friday morning, Leflar was hammered by defense attorney Marty Mullaney on whether or not he had a scheme in mind to get Haskell arrested in order to prevent her from obtaining partial custody of their son.

“How many different times did you get her to say ‘them words,’” Mullaney asked.

The words in question are the admission of guilt Haskell made over the tape, wherein she is heard saying, “I will never, ever, ever put my hand over (our son’s) mouth like I did to that baby.” She is heard on the tape saying it several times as Leflar prompts her, “I want to hear them words.”

In court Friday, Mullaney depicted the operation as a trap conceived by Leflar and in conjunction with county detectives to get Haskell to admit to Baurley’s murder, a death previously determined to be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

“Your plan, for it to be successful, is to have Melissa Haskell found guilty by this jury, isn’t it?” said Mullaney. “Your plan is still in motion, isn’t it?”

Leflar testified he was only trying to protect his son, who he thought was in danger in the custody of Haskell, who had a long history of drug use. He kept the secret until last year, when he agreed to cooperate with detectives in order to obtain full custody of his son, Michael, and prevent Haskell from ever getting near him.

“For the safety of my son,” Leflar testified.

“It could happen to him like it did before. When Missy told me her story, I was afraid it could happen to my son. I had to keep my son away from a monster.”

Yet Mullaney argued it was not until Haskell filed for custody of their son that Leflar felt prompted to share her secret. Under cross-examination, Mullaney asked Leflar if he would have ever come forward, had the potential for Haskell to get 50-50 custody prevailed. Haskell and Leflar’s eyes did not meet once in court.

Five days after the recorded alleged confession, Leflar filed an emergency petition to temporarily suspend Haskell’s custody of their son.

The defense argues Haskell was in an emotionally compromised state and would have said anything to Leflar to earn his trust.

Three other witnesses for the Commonwealth testified Friday that Leflar recalled the confession Haskell made to him some time in the years following the Aug. 26 1992 murder of Baurley.

Pennsylvania State Trooper Henry Callithen said Leflar told him Haskell somehow suffocated a baby many years ago, yet wanted her to “get her life straightened out so they could be a family again.”

Paul Leflar, the older brother of Michael Leflar, testified that his brother told him about Haskell’s confession 10 years ago and “he had a hard time telling me.”

“It hits you hard,” said Leflar, a shaggy-haired caddy for Philadelphia Country Club.

“I went to a priest because I needed some guidance. He told me to keep it under, because of the problems that would occur. To take the burden off of me, he told me to take it back to the family. We talked about what a horrible thing it was to have inside of you. It was tearing (Leflar) up inside.”

Joseph Mariani, Michael Leflar’s boss of 12 years and owner of a local excavating company, testified that Leflar told him too, many years ago.

“He told me (Haskell) was babysitting, the baby was crying a lot and she put her hand over the baby’s mouth. (Leflar) was upset at the time.”

Patricia Dunn, the sister of Michael Baurley, Ryan’s father, testified that on the day of Ryan’s death, Haskell approached her and demanded to be paid for a week’s worth of babysitting.

“Melissa came right up to me and wanted to talk to me. She was very matter-of-fact, almost business-like,” said Dunn.

“She told me (Baurley) owed her a week’s pay and she wanted her money.”

Dunn said she paid her $250 in cash to prevent her from asking Baurley directly, on the day he was making funeral arrangements for his son.

Although Leflar told several people about Haskell’s alleged confession, none went to police with the information until the bitter custody battle began last year

Trial question: How did Montco baby die 20 years ago?

By Bonnie L. Cook - Philly.com

June 7, 2012