A detective with the Metropolitan Police Department testified on June 2 regarding his investigation into a an infant’s murder and interviews with the defendant.
Faneshia Scott, 38, is charged with seven counts of first-degree cruelty to children and two counts of first-degree felony murder while the victim was especially vulnerable due to age. The charges stem from her alleged involvement in the death of her 16-month-old daughter, Rhythm Fields, and assault of her two and four-year-old children on the 5400 block of C Street, SE on March 21, 2017.
Prosecutors called on a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) who testified about his interrogation with Scott on April 4, 2017. The prosecution showed video of the interaction between the detective and Scott before a jury in DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park’s courtroom. In the recordings, Scott appears to admit to shaking and forcefully handling Fields.
“When I looked at her, she was still,” said Scott in the recording, reflecting on when she found out her daughter was deceased at 2:15 p.m. the following day.
According to the recording played by the prosecution, Scott had gone on a night out with a friend and had found her boyfriend and her other children sleeping when she returned late that night.
At 8 a.m. on the day of the incident, Scott woke up briefly to feed her other two children before falling asleep again, according to Scott. At 10 a.m. she moved out to the couch to watch her children, claiming she was frustrated when she saw what a mess the house was and that Fields was still sleeping in her playpen. The recording continues, with Scott telling the detective that it wasn’t until 2 p.m. that her friend came to check on her and asked Scott where Fields was which led Scott to check.
According to Scott, she had left Fields in a playpen from 6 p.m. the night before and admitted to noticing her breathing was erratically after handling her. That was not the only time Scott appear to acknowledge shaking her, saying it had happened two other times and that she had once slammed Fields into her playpen. Scott demonstrated both actions on a doll for the detective, who said that shaking a baby can do damage because you don’t know your own strength.
The prosecution argued this proved Scott was responsible for the condition of her child and that the force used ultimately resulted in her death.
Steven Kiersh, Scott’s attorney, attempted to discredit the detective’s testimony, insinuating the interrogation was improper and illegal, as he attempted to elicit information from Scott that supported his agenda.
“You have to have the ability to confront someone,” the detective said, defending his interview of Scott, for the benefit of the jury at trial.
He also said that interviews did not always have a structure and stressed a need to adapt to the situation.
Kiersh moved on to talk about the video interview, specifically how the detective put his hands on Scott and commented on her appearance.
“You’re drop dead gorgeous,” the detective said in the video, also referring to Scott as “doll” and “baby.”
The witness stated neither actions were improper because he was trying to comfort her and outline the positives in her life. He also stated that he wasn’t trying to curry favor or get her to reveal the truth.
Kiersh disagreed.
“How is commenting on her appearance relevant to her and her boyfriend,” said Kiersh.
Kiersh said touching Scott was a way to maintain control over the situation and exert a level of dominance. The lawyer claimed that the officer engaged in improper conduct during the interview in order to extract her guilt.
On the stand, the detective rebutted the idea of any domineering behavior and claimed this line of questioning from the defense was “outrageous.”
The defense also challenged the detective for not having a full autopsy report prior to the interview.
In response the prosecution maintained there was nothing wrong with white lies in building rapport and getting Scott to confess about being responsible.
Prosecutors also called on Scott’s best friend’s sister who recounted an instance at her sister’s house in Maryland. The witness stated that she “saw her [Scott] hit the little one,” that being the defendant’s Rhythm, then 2-year-old. She described the specific action as “popping.” Regarding how many times Scott hit the child, the witness said, “I lost count… it was more than five times.” When asked by defense attorney, Megan Allburn, she stated it was more than ten times.
Allburn asked the witness if any of the adults present during the incident in Maryland called Child Protective Services (CPS). The witness responded they did not. She did note that she had called CPS in response to similar instances in the past and they could not take the report because the witness could not provide Scott’s address.
When asked about the defendant’s conduct towards her children, the witness said, “she didn’t really engage with them… shirts were dirty.”
The witness also recounted seeing the defendant putting cough syrup in a bottle for Fields when she was about six months old, stating that the syrup “didn’t look like a prescription bottle,” and Fields did not seem sick. The witness recalled the defendant saying the medicine “was for her [Fields] to sleep.”
Prosecuting attorneys questioned the medical examiner about her conclusion that the manner of Fields’ death was a homicide. The injuries along Fields’ head, neck, and torso were consistent with blunt force trauma inflicted upon by a larger adult, not by another child or simple child-like horseplay, said the medical examiner.
They also noted that there were no signs of choking or asphyxiation, and no grape in Fields’ throat, which the defendant claimed was the cause of Fields’ death.
Kiersh then questioned the witness about whether Field’s injuries could be from falling from a crib, running into walls, or playing with other children, all of which the witness said were unlikely due to the extent of the injuries and the varying times at which they were inflicted.
Kiersh also asked the witness about her testimony in the grand jury where she defined the cause of death as a head injury. The witness clarified that she said only that head trauma was one of the more significant injuries and that the cause of death was from multiple blunt force traumas.
Prosecutors also called on Scott’s best friend since high school, who testified she visited the defendant’s residence three times between January 2017 and March 21, 2017. The witness recounted her interactions with Fields during these visits as well as her observations of Scott’s conduct with her children. According to the friend, she never saw injury on the children nor had she seen Scott beat her children.
The friend recalled talking to Scott on the phone on March 22, 2017, the day after Fields’ death. When the witness asked Scott what happened, she told her the baby choked on a grape.
According to the witness, about two months after the incident, she recalled seeing Scott to retrieve the keys to the C Street apartment because the defendant was moving in with her sister. The witness asked Scott if she had heard anything about the case to which Scott responded that the authoritries were trying to make it seem like she hit her kids.
The trial is scheduled to resume on June 3.
