AUBURN — The mother of an infant girl whose father is on trial for murder testified Wednesday that Trevor Averill called out to her in alarm while holding their limp daughter, appearing neither angry nor frustrated, only frightened.
Michelle Morin Levesque testified in Androscoggin County Superior Court on the seventh day of the murder and manslaughter trial of the 31-year-old Buckfield man.
Harper Averill died July 26, 2020, at Maine Medical Center in Portland, four days after Levesque called 911 to say the infant had stopped breathing.
Levesque, the last witness for the defense, recounted her relationship with Averill from when they met in 2019 to July 26, 2020, when Harper was taken off life support at Maine Medical Center.
Harper was born in good health and maintained good health according to neonatal appointments, Levesque said. There were only two concerns the parents had in that time — a cut on her tongue from scratching it with her fingernails, and gurgling, raspy breathing. The pediatrician recommended cutting her nails regularly and wearing mittens, and no serious intervention for the breathing.
The family had a good routine and schedule for care that revolved around Averill’s work schedule, Levesque said. At night the couple would take shifts changing diapers and feeding her. Every other weekend, the couple would leave her with one of her grandparents.
Levesque said frustrations with Harper were rare, with only one instance for each of them. Pediatricians recommended they set Harper down and walk away for a few minutes to get their bearings.
Levesque said she was away for five to 10 minutes getting lunch when Trevor Averill dropped Harper, which was about a month before she stopped breathing on July 22, 2020, and was rushed to a hospital.
“Trevor was frantic, frightened,” she said when asked what happened when she came home. “He just dropped her on the floor.”
The couple called Averill’s mother, a nurse, to check the infant. Seeing only bruising and no sign of a concussion, she recommended they watch her. Levesque said she and Averill worried about her for a couple of weeks.
Weeks later — on July 21, 2020 — the couple came home from a trip to a family member’s lake camp in Sumner and put Harper to sleep downstairs and lounged until 10:30 p.m. when they brought her upstairs and all went to bed.
Around 12:30 a.m. on July 22, 2020, Levesque said she woke to Harper fussing for her midnight feeding. Averill offered to bring her downstairs.
“I heard him say, ‘Come on, let’s get you some food,’” Levesque said.
Half asleep, Levesque said she heard noises downstairs, fussing while Averill was presumably making a bottle of formula, but nothing that sounded concerning.
Five to eight minutes later, Averill called out to her. Alarmed, she jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. Averill, who was neither angry nor frustrated, but frightened, was holding a limp Harper, Levesque said. She said she saw no injuries on her.
On cross examination, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue pointed out that Levesque reported “several bruises” to police, but Levesque said they were due to Trevor patting her butt too hard and fast to calm her at some point.
Levesque said Averill held Harper to his chest patting her back while she called 911. The dispatcher gave instructions on chest compressions, so Averill brought Harper to an ottoman in the living room to administer them, she said, and moved Harper to the floor when instructed to do so.
Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputies and EMTs arrived and took over life-saving measures.
The unresponsive infant was taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and then flown to Maine Medical Center.
Levesque said she rode in the ambulance to Lewiston and then to Portland with Averill.
Both parents answered questions from an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s detective and a caseworker from the state Department of Health and Human Services, she said.
Four days later, on July 26, 2020, the couple chose to take Harper off life support, according to testimony by Dr. Jillian Gregory, who was working in the pediatric intensive care unit at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center at that time.
Prosecutors followed Levesque’s testimony with a rebuttal from Dr. Tiffani McDonough, a child neurologist at Maine Medical Center, who testified Monday. She said there was no evidence of hydrocephaly, an excessive building of fluid in the brain, which would support the defense’s argument that the infant died because she was dropped about a month before she stopped breathing.
Afterward, Bogue and fellow prosecutor Suzanne Russell and defense attorneys Verne Paradie and James Howaniec rested their cases.
Before adjournment, Justice Jennifer Archer denied a second motion by the defense to dismiss the chargers, ruling prosecutors presented enough evidence indicating “someone” inflicted trauma to the infant, which led to her death.
Prosecutors argued throughout the trial that medical evidence and autopsy reports support that Harper’s death was caused by nonaccidental trauma, shaking, and that the only person who could have inflicted the trauma was her father, the last person to be alone with the infant.
Howaniec and Paradie argued that the infant’s collapse on July 22, 2020, caused a cascade of symptoms which began with a brain clot from her being dropped weeks prior to the incident that prompted the 911 call.
Averill faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of depraved indifference murder and up to 30 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.
Closing arguments will be held Thursday morning and then the jury is expected to begin deliberations.
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