Richland County, SC (WLTX) -- The former daycare owner accused of suffocating a child to death took the stand Thursday in the third day of her trial.
Andrea Person is charged with homicide by child abuse in the death of one-year-old Zackery Ulengchong, a child who was left in her care in 1998.
Fifth Circuit Solicitor Barney Giese questioned Person for hours, mainly focusing on Person's signed confession. The solicitor's office says Person denied ever harming the child and talked about how much she loved Ulengchong.
"I treated him like he was one of my own. I loved him like he was my own. He was a wonderful child, and I loved him like he was my own," Person
Person, very emotional on the stand Thursday, says Richland County Sheriff's Investigators coerced her into confessing that she was responsible for the child's death.
Later, Person wrote an apology letter to Ulengchong's parents. Giese questioned why Person would have written the apology if she were coerced by investigators into a confession. Person says the child was fussy so she gave him a bottle and laid him down. On the brink of tears, she gave her account of what happened next.
"Jesus." Person sighed, "When I went back ,I saw Zachary laying in a pool of fluid, and I immediately picked him and took him into the living room. I called 9-1-1 and started CPR. I started CPR, and listened to the person on the other end of the phone. They told me to continue CPR," Person said. Person says when she got to the emergency room, she first saw the child's father.
"I saw Pete, and Pete gave me a hug. And he held me, and we cried. And he said it was not my fault. 'You loved him like he was your own,' he said, 'Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault,'" she said.
Person says that she considered the child's family to be as close as a sister and brother, and even though she can't contact them, she still loves them to this day.
The Department of Social Services case worker who filed the initial report in 1998 also took the the stand Thursday. Deputy Chief Dave Wilson, an investigator with the Richland County Sheriff's Department, and Dr. William Armstrong, the physician who performed the autopsy, each answered questions Wednesday. Related Coverage: Andrea Person's trial, Day One
Both Wilson and Armstrong gave their accounts of what happened to Ulengchong while under Person's care. Prosecutors say Person confessed to putting her hand over the child's mouth for 15-20 seconds because he was fussy and wouldn't stop crying.
Investigators say Person told them about the incident inside Wilson's office at the sheriff's department. The defense team questioned each witness about whether there was any type of interrogation tactics or "trickery" used at the time of Person's confession. Wilson said deputies are "allowed" to use some level of trickery when interrogating suspects, but that wasn't the case with Person.
When Dr. Armstrong took the stand, prosecutors tried to show the child died from acute cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain, resulting in the child being suffocated to death. Defense attorneys questioned Dr. Armstrong's forensic credentials and why he would change his mind after his initial report.
Person faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty in the death of baby Zackery Ulengchong. The trial is expected to end on Friday.
Person has been charged in two other child deaths at her facility. Previous Coverage: Person Charged with Third Child's Death Under trial rules, prosecutors are forbidden to bring up the other deaths in the jury's presence.
11/19/2009 8:27:27 PM
