BELFAST, Maine — Miranda Hopkins’ attorneys are questioning why police investigators didn’t collect more forensic evidence while they were investigating the death of her infant son.
Prosecutors continued to make their case that Hopkins is responsible for the death of her 7-week-old son, Jaxson Hopkins, in January 2017. They’re expected to continue presenting witnesses and evidence on Thursday when the trial enters its third day, before the defense takes over. The trial is expected to stretch into next week.
Hopkins, 32, is accused of killing Jaxson in the cluttered Troy trailer they shared with her two older sons, who are severely autistic and nonverbal. Hopkins told multiple investigators that she didn’t remember what happened after she fell asleep with Jaxson in her bed that night, but believes one of her boys, likely the oldest one, entered her room and hurt the infant without her feeling or hearing anything.
Multiple state police investigators and forensic analysts from the state crime lab testified on Wednesday about their roles and findings in the investigation. The evidence police gathered includes photos and video of the home, as well as recorded interviews with Hopkins, and a 3-foot tall baby gate that Hopkins used to block the entryway to her bedroom.
Defense attorney Christopher MacLean questioned Sgt. Scott Bryant, commander of the state police’s evidence response team, about why police didn’t gather DNA samples from Hopkins or her two older sons, or trace fibers from the house.
Bryant said that it didn’t make sense to collect that sort of forensic evidence at the house, because everyone in the home that night lived there, so their DNA and other forensic identifiers would be all over most things in the home, including each other.
“Nothing would be gained,” Bryant said.
Investigators took a swab of an apparent blood stain on the window in the living room, and testing revealed it wasn’t Jaxson’s. Bryant said none of Jaxson’s injures appeared to have released blood. Police didn’t compare it to the DNA of anyone else in the house.
Clare Bryce, the former Maine deputy chief medical examiner who conducted the autopsy of Jaxson’s body, also testified about the extensive injuries she noted on Jaxson during her examination.
Jaxson suffered at least 15 rib fractures consistent with being “squeezed,” according to Bryce. He also showed bruises on his head, chest and other parts of his body, as well as small cuts on his head, hands and legs. Jaxson’s cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma, and Bryce found multiple skull fractures while examining his head.
As prosecutors showed photographs of Jaxson’s injuries to jurors, Hopkins looked into her lap.
Prosecutors also played audio and video interviews with Hopkins taken during the investigation. In several of the interviews, the two older boys can be heard in the background playing and trying to communicate through grunts, honks and other noises.
One video showed Hopkins inside her cluttered bedroom, lined by dark blue walls decorated with a Confederate flag, running police through what happened the night of Jaxson’s death. She used a stuffed elephant to demonstrate how she laid the infant down in his boppy pillow and covered his body with a blanket before going to check the locks on the doors and cabinets before bed. Jaxson was positioned between his mother and the wall, with his mother closest to the door.
Early the next morning, she reached over to check on her son and found him cold to the touch and lifeless, Hopkins said. She speculated that one of the older boys managed to open or climb the safety gate at the door, and somehow jumped on the bed crushing or otherwise hurting Jaxson without her noticing.
Hopkins changed her story after her arrest, saying that she had left Jaxson in the living room, but woke up to find his body next to her later that night. Her defense attorneys expect to present to jurors that picture of what happened when they introduce their evidence later this week.
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