Woman remembers Jones as loving kid

A Lubbock woman broke down on the stand Tuesday, June 5, during Robert Babcock’s capital murder trial as she remembered the four-year-old boy whom she had considered her son.

Heather Hill was a friend of Chance Mark Jones’ family who had known him his whole life. But circumstances caused Jones to come to live with Hill when he was two years old, and her house was his home until Child Protective Services facilitated placing Jones with his biological father, Babcock, in Clarendon.

Through tears during part of her testimony, she asked the court to take down a larger than life-sized photo of Jones, which had been situated in front of the witness stand.

“I felt like he was my child,” Hill told the Hall County jury during day three of the trial.

Hill said Jones had a normal, happy home life that included fishing trips, playing in the park, and attending the pre-kindergarten class that she taught.

“We had a school routine during the week and family time on the weekends,” she said.

Jones enjoyed school and loved playing with other kids, Hill said.

“I remember his humor,” she said. “He was very loving and always told me he loved me.”

But in late 2010, Hill contacted CPS and reported that Jones’ biological mother had “knocked the crap out of the kid and knocked him down.”  By Thanksgiving, there was an agreement that Jones should go live with Babcock at his home southeast of Clarendon.

Jones seemed happy about the move, Hill testified, noting that he had become used to being moved around.

“I think he just thought he was going on a vacation and would be coming home,” she said.

But Jones never came home. Babcock called 911 on the morning of January 4, 2011, to report that the boy was unresponsive, and he died the next day at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo. Through an investigation and a series of interviews with the defendant, it was learned that Babcock began beating his son on Christmas Eve and continued to do so right up through January 4.

Babcock, now facing life in prison without parole, had told investigators and EMS that Jones had anger issues and that he had hit himself. He also said the boy lied and sometimes urinated on the floor. He later told Texas Rangers that he had caused most of Jones injuries.

Hill testified that Jones had never displayed any anger issues and never hit himself, that he was truthful, and that she potty trained him herself. She also said that Babcock never contacted her about having any problems at all with the boy.

After Jones went to live with Babcock, she never saw the boy again. She texted Babcock, but 75 percent of her texts went unanswered, she said. She said she called and asked to have Chance for Christmas, but Babcock told her “no.”

“You have had him all this time,” Hill recalled Babcock telling her. “Isn’t it fair that my family has this time?”

Hill said she texted Babcock on Christmas day but got no response.

Other witnesses Tuesday included Dr. Christopher Todd, a pediatric intensivist at NWTH who treated Jones on January 4, and Dr. Wayne Paullus, a neurosurgeon at NWTH who performed emergency surgery on the boy to relieve pressure on his brain. Todd, who has specific training in child abuse cases, said Jones’ injuries were not accidental and the worst he had seen in his career.

The District Attorney, Luke Inman, also called to the stand a sexual assault nurse from NWTH, Danielle Livermore, who examined Jones after Paullus performed surgery on the boy. The jury was shown four graphic photos that she took of Jones’ injuries. She said she found no evidence of sexual assault, but she did document injuries to the child’s genitals and cataloged about 100 injuries Jones had sustained in a five-page report that covered every part of his body from his head to his feet.

Livermore testified that she has conducted more than 1,000 exams in her ten years as a sexual assault nurse, and it was her opinion that Jones had been severely beaten. Inman asked her how many children she has seen in Jones’ condition. “Chance is the only one,” she replied.

Babcock has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, but also on Tuesday, a clinical psychologist from Lubbock, Dr. Philip Davis, said he examined the defendant on January 1 , 2012, and that in his opinion Babcock was sane at the time of the crime and that he knew what he did was wrong.

Babcock’s trial continues in Memphis, where the state is expected to wrap up its case today, June 6, and the defense will begin its presentation this week.

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise. Copyright © 2012.