Shaken baby had previous head injury
The doctor who performed an autopsy on 6-month-old Serenitee Halbert, who investigators say was shaken to death in August 2006 by a 23-year-old man, testified in court that the infant showed evidence of having sustained a severe head injury at least two weeks before her death. Medical Examiner, Doug Kelley,testified that Serenitee showed signs of bleeding between her brain and the wall of her skull, indicating she had suffered a "traumatic brain injury" two to four weeks before Aug. 18, 2006, when Craig C. Tolonen is accused of shaking her to death. Tolonen is charged with first-degree reckless homicide, for which he could be sentenced to 60 years in prison if convicted. Jurors saw a video of Tolonen using a doll to show the sheriff's detectives how he was awakened by Serenitee's crying about 6 a.m. Aug. 18, 2006. He showed how he picked up the child, eventually shaking her for more than 30 seconds and twice asking her, "What's wrong with you?" before throwing her against a couch.
After that, he told detectives, she began to cry "a little harder." Serenitee was pronounced dead two days later. Kelley testified that Serenitee's recent injuries had included bruising about her head, chest and thigh, a quarter-inch
skull fracture, and bleeding and swelling in her brain. Those injuries led him to conclude that the cause of her death was severe trauma to the brain caused by injuries suffered Aug. 18, 2006, he said.
