Defense opens in Babcock trial

Defense attorney Dale Rabe told jurors the state had failed to meet its burden of proof in the Robert Babcock capital murder trial Wednesday.

Opening the defense portion of the trial, Rabe said the case before the Hall County Jury was tragic and that there was no question that it resulted in the death of four-year-old Chance Mark Jones. He also said that everyone grieves Chance’s death, including his father, Babcock, who is accused of beating him to death. Rabe said that people grieve differently and said the state had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Babcock “intentionally and knowingly” caused Jones’ death.

The first witness for the defense was Shane Lance, a former Child Protective Services investigator who was put in charge of Jones’ case when a family friend, Heather Hill, reported to the state that Jones’ mother, Nancy Brown, was hitting Jones and his half-sister, then age two. Hill also said Brown was on drugs.

Lance told jurors that Chance told him his mother hit him in the head, leaving marks and bruises, and would hit him and his sister whenever she was mad. Brown admitted to Lance that she had done meth within 24 hours of him interviewing her in November of 2011. After Chance went to live with his biological father, Lance said CPS worker Christy White was to make a home visit to Babcock’s residence and he said Babcock had requested counseling for his son as soon as possible because the boy reportedly said his mother’s boyfriend had played with his privates.

Under cross examination by District Attorney Luke Inman, Lance testified that CPS had concerns about placing Jones with Babcock because he was a 38-year-old man with no experience with kids. But the state had no grounds to keep Babcock, as the biological father, from getting custody of the boy.

“I do remember him saying that Chance was a cradle of life and that he couldn’t believe Nancy would ever hit him or hurt a child,” Lance said.

Lance told jurors that Babcock never contacted CPS for help with parenting and never reported that he was having trouble controlling the child or was hitting him. Inman asked Lance what he would say if he were told that Babcock claimed to have contacted Lance’s office numerous times to seek help.

“That would be a lie,” Lance responded.

The defense also intended to call Babcock’s mother Gayle Edes to the stand Wednesday, but her attorney informed Rabe and the state that she was invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would not testify. Rabe asked the court to admit into evidence an audio recording of Edes being interviewed by Texas Ranger Jamie Downs last January, and Judge Stuart Messer granted that request.

Edes is currently under indictment for felony injury to a child by omission for her failure to get medical aid for Jones on January 3.

Earlier Wednesday, the state rested its portion of the trial after calling a Lubbock medical examiner to the stand and presenting graphic photos of Jones’ autopsy, detailing the numerous external and internal injuries the boys had sustained at the hands of his father.

The state also called Ranger Downs to the stand for a second time to play an audio recording of a January 8, 2012, interview with the defendant, during which Babcock again admits to beating his son and even punching him in the head more than five times “to wake him up” after he discovered him unconscious and before calling 911 on January 4, 2011.

The defense will continue its arguments today.

 By Roger Estlack, The Clarendon Enterprise. Copyright © 2012.