MACHIAS, Maine — A former Lubec farmer accused of causing the death of his diabetic son by failing to seek medical attention for the boy when his flu symptoms escalated was criminally negligent, the prosecutor said as the man’s trial began Monday.
Edward Smith, 44, misjudged how a stomach bug going around town in 2012 would affect his 12-year-old boy’s diabetes, but was not a negligent parent, his defense attorney said at the start of the jury-waived trial before Justice Robert Murray in Washington County Superior Court.
Smith is charged with manslaughter, aggravated furnishing of a scheduled drug and endangering the welfare of a child, because he allegedly gave Aloric Smith drugs not prescribed for him.
The boy died of diabetic ketoacidosis, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, who is prosecuting the case, said in her opening statement.
Diabetic ketoacidosis occurs when a person with diabetes becomes dehydrated, according to the website emedicinehealth.com. The condition results in the body consuming its own muscle, fat and liver cells for fuel. Common causes for the condition are infections that include diarrhea and vomiting.
The boy died because his father did not do what “any reasonable and prudent parent would have done — gotten medical attention for their child,” Robbin told the judge. The prosecutor also said that Edward Smith gave his son Valium and an inhaler, which were prescribed for the father, not the son.
Robbin told the judge that Aloric Smith was diagnosed with Type 1 juvenile diabetes in October 2010. She said that his father was involved in learning to test the child’s blood sugar and manage the disease.
The prosecutor said that the defendant was told that if the boy became ill and was vomiting, a parent should seek medical attention immediately, either by calling the child’s doctor, the 24-hour diabetes hotline at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor or an ambulance.
Edward Smith did none of those things in the 60 hours leading up to his son’s death, Robbin said.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Davidson of Machias said that there is no question that Aloric Smith died of his diabetes.
“It’s unfortunate, but children sometimes die of diseases,” Davidson told the judge in his opening statement. “Clearly Ed made a miscalculation. He had seen his son have a diabetic incident, and this was not what that looked like.”
Smith believed the boy was suffering from the stomach flu, the defense attorney said. The father believed the boy was getting better because he had been able to keep some food down.
Davidson said that Smith would take the stand in his own defense.
Smith’s estranged wife, Donna Smith of Springfield, Missouri, testified Monday that in the two days prior to his death on Wednesday, April 4, 2012, Aloric Smith was vomiting and had diarrhea. He was unable to keep down chicken soup or a milkshake and was so weak the night before his death that he could not walk to the bathroom unaided, she said.
Donna Smith, 34, who is not Aloric’s mother, began dating Edward Smith the week before Aloric’s death, she told Murray. The couple moved to Missouri the following summer and were married on Halloween 2012. By the time he was arrested and returned to Maine a year later, the marriage was in trouble. The woman said that she has a new boyfriend and intends to divorce the defendant.
“I told Ed [Tuesday night] that he needed to take Aloric to the hospital,” she testified. “He said that Aloric didn’t want to go. I told him that he had to be the parent and take him.”
She said that she saw Edward Smith check his son’s glucose levels and give him an insulin shot at least once in the evening but was at work and not at the house with them during the day.
Donna Smith told the judge that she and Edward Smith agreed that on Wednesday morning, he would take the boy to the emergency room. When they got up the next morning, Aloric Smith was dead, she said.
Law enforcement officers who arrived at the house after Edward Smith called 911, described the home as “messy and dirty.” There were animals, including rabbits and cats, in the house and animal feces was found in several rooms.
Dr. Margaret Greenwald, the medical examiner who performed the boy’s autopsy, and employees of the Department of Health and Human Services who were involved with the family in the year before the boy’s death are scheduled to testify Tuesday.
The trial is expected to end Thursday when Murray will take the case under advisement. There is no timetable under which he must issue his decision.
The defendant appeared in court Monday in orange jail clothes. He has been held since his arrest October 2013 in Missouri at the Washington County Jail unable to post $5,000 cash or a $50,000 surety bail.
Edward Smith moved to the Midwest several months after the boy’s death, according to a previously published report.
If convicted of manslaughter, Smith faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $5,000 if convicted on the drug charge and a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,000 on the endangering charge.
BDN writer Tim Cox contributed to this report.