First witnesses take stand in Babcock case

Five witnesses were called to the stand Thursday, May 31, in the first day of testimony in the capital murder trial of Robert Monroe Babcock.

Jurors meeting in the Hall County Courthouse in Memphis spent the morning and part of the afternoon hearing the testimony of Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn as he recalled going to Babcock’s residence on the morning of January 4, 2011, after the defendant called 911 and reported his four-year-old son was non-responsive.

Blackburn testified that the boy had been severely beaten, and jurors listened to more than two hours of a recording of the sheriff and Chief Deputy Randy Bond interrogating Babcock, who admitted to them that he had struck the boy in the head and stomach to discipline him but maintained that the boy’s most severe injuries were self-inflicted.

The child, Chance Mark Jones, died the next morning at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo. The investigation and the interview played for the jury indicate that Babcock physically abused Jones from December 24, 2010, to January 4, 2011.

Jurors also heard testimony from Chief Deputy Bond regarding Babcock’s demeanor that morning and from Donley County Paramedic Blaine Burton and emergency room nurse Amanda Trujillo about the horrifying nature and severity of the injuries Jones suffered, which they both said could not have been self-inflicted.

The final witness this afternoon was Paula Blackburn, owner of Paula’s Daycare where Jones received after-school care for two weeks before the Christmas break. She testified that Jones was a happy child who exhibited no discipline problems and that she saw no signs of abuse in the two weeks that he was at her facility, which ended on December 22.

The trial will continue Friday morning in Memphis, where the prosecution will call more witnesses to the stand. Babcock has entered a plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity” in the case.

By Roger Estlack, © 2012 Clarendon Enterprise