Full opinion text
OPINION SUE WALKER, Justice. I. Introduction Appellant Kim Stevens appeals her conviction and life sentence for the offense of capital murder. Stevens argues in four points that the evidence is factually insufficient to support her conviction, that the trial court erred by allowing an adult witness to testify by two-way closed circuit television, that the trial court erred by allowing a social worker to give hearsay testimony that did not in fact fall within the medical-diagnosis-or-treatment exception to the hearsay rule, and that the trial court violated Stevens’s due process rights by excluding testimony that she claims was vital to her defense. We will affirm. II. Brief Factual Background During the afternoon of January 4, 2000, Stevens took Jorden Saager, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl whom she was babysitting, to the doctor. The nurses at the doctor’s office rushed Jorden back to a room at the doctor’s office and shortly thereafter called 911. An ambulance arrived and took Jorden to the hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead approximately twenty minutes later. The autopsy revealed that Jorden had a fairly recent fracture that was four to five inches long on the back left part of her skull, that her duodenum had been transected such that the two ends of Jorden’s bowel were completely torn apart, and that she had bruises all over her body. The medical examiner who performed Jorden’s autopsy stated that death was caused by shock and sepsis as a result of the separation of the bowel and that the head injury could have contributed to Jorden’s death. A jury convicted Stevens of murder for causing Jorden’s death, and this appeal followed. III. Factually Sufficient Evidence To Support Capital Murder Conviction In her fourth point, Stevens contends that the evidence is factually insufficient to support her conviction for capital murder. Specifically, Stevens argues that there was almost no evidence of her guilt; she argues that there was evidence only of a homicide and that both she and Jorden’s parents had the opportunity to commit the crime. Thus, she argues that the jury was forced to choose between herself and Jor-den’s parents as the perpetrator of the offense. Because the jury’s verdict is based primarily on circumstantial evidence and because Stevens told numerous people slightly different stories about the events that transpired on January 4, 2000, we set forth an extremely detailed summary of the facts below. A. Standard of Review When reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, we view all the evidence in a neutral light, favoring neither party. Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404, 414 (Tex.Crim.App.2006); Drichas v. State, 175 S.W.3d 795, 799 (Tex. Crim.App.2005). We then ask whether the evidence supporting the conviction, although legally sufficient, is nevertheless so weak that the fact-finder’s determination is clearly wrong and manifestly unjust or whether conflicting evidence so greatly outweighs the evidence supporting the conviction that the fact-finder’s determination is manifestly unjust. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 414-15, 417; Johnson v. State, 23 S.W.3d 1, 11 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). To reverse under the second ground, we must determine, with some objective basis in the record, that the great weight and preponderance of all the evidence, though legally sufficient, contradicts the verdict. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 417. In determining whether the evidence is factually insufficient to support a conviction that is nevertheless supported by legally sufficient evidence, it is not enough that this court “harbor a subjective level of reasonable doubt to overturn [the] conviction.” Id. We cannot conclude that a conviction is clearly wrong or manifestly unjust simply because we would have decided differently than the jury or because we disagree with the jury’s resolution of a conflict in the evidence. Id. We may not simply substitute our judgment for the fact-finder’s. Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 12; Cain v. State, 958 S.W.2d 404, 407 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). Unless the record clearly reveals that a different result is appropriate, we must defer to the jury’s determination of the weight to be given contradictory testimonial evidence because resolution of the conflict “often turns on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor, and those jurors were in attendance when the testimony was delivered.” Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 8. Thus, we must give due deference to the fact-finder’s determinations, “particularly those determinations concerning the weight and credibility of the evidence.” Id. at 9. An opinion addressing factual sufficiency must include a discussion of the most important and relevant evidence that supports the appellant’s complaint on appeal. Sims v. State, 99 S.W.3d 600, 603 (Tex.Crim.App.2003). B. The Evidence 1. The Facts Concerning The Events Leading Up To Jorden’s Death a.General Background Yolanda and Lloyd Saager met while they were both in the Army and married. At the time of the trial, they had been married for eleven years. Their children are Branden, who was born in 1994; Alyssa, who was born in 1996; and Jorden who was born in 1997. Yolanda was discharged from the Army after she gave birth to Branden and stayed home to raise the children. When Lloyd was discharged from the Army in July 1999, he was offered a job as a field service technician for Remstar in Plano, and the family decided to move in with Yolanda’s “Grandpa,” Clyde Ward, in Gainesville until they could find a place to live. Stevens lived next door to Ward' with her three children. Yolanda met Stevens in August or September of 1999. While their children played together, Yolanda got to know Stevens and felt that she could trust her. In the fall of 1999, Lloyd and Yolanda noticed that Jorden started having health issues. They thought that she was developing allergies and petechiae because she had an ear infection and little red dots on her hands. Yolanda was concerned about Jorden because Yolanda’s grandmother had been diagnosed with a bleeding condition during the preceding year, and petec-hiae was one of the symptoms. Yolanda took Jorden to Dr. Gibbs, who gave Jorden antibiotics to clear up the ear infection and the petechiae. b. Stevens Becomes Babysitter for Saagers Later that fall, Yolanda obtained a job as a phlebotomist with LabCorp. Prior to starting this job, Yolanda talked with Stevens about not having child care, and Stevens agreed to take care of Yolanda’s children while Yolanda worked. Stevens told Yolanda that she was a pharmacist and had been through EMT training, and that made Yolanda feel better about this arrangement. Yolanda testified that her work hours were 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and that she would drop Alyssa and Jorden off at Stevens’s house around 7:15 a.m., take her son Branden and Stevens’s daughter Taylor to school, and then pick up her children from Stevens’s house around 1:30 p.m. after she got off work. c. Jorden Gets Injured on her First Day at Stevens’s House On Yolanda’s first day of work, which was November 16, 1999, she picked up her children at 6:30 p.m. because she had been at an all-day training. When she picked up the children, she noticed that Jorden’s elbow was swollen and that she had a faint bruise across her head. Stevens told Yolanda that the children were outside playing on a toddler car and that Jorden had gotten pushed out. Yolanda thought that Stevens’s explanation seemed reasonable because Stevens had a cement patio in part of her backyard. Yolanda was upset, however, at how Jorden looked and called Dr. Gibbs’s office and made an appointment for the next day. d. Dr. Gibbs Refers Jorden to Cook Children’s Hospital The bruise on Jorden’s head had healed by the time she saw Dr. Gibbs the next day, but he and Yolanda talked about the red spots on Jorden’s hands again. Dr. Gibbs read through his books to see if Jorden possibly had a bleeding problem like Yolanda’s grandmother, and he decided to refer Jorden to an oncologist at Cook Children’s Hospital. e. Examination at Cook Children’s Hospital Reveals No Disease Yolanda took Jorden to Cook Children’s Hospital on December 7, 1999. There, a bleeding time test, a complete blood count, and a physical exam were performed. Yolanda said that she told the doctor that she was concerned because Jorden kept getting bruises. The doctor said that he would repeat the diagnostic tests in three months, but that there was nothing medically wrong with Jorden at that time. f. Christmas in Indiana Was Bruise-Free To celebrate Christmas, the Saager family drove to Lloyd’s father’s house in Indiana and stayed there approximately one week. Yolanda and Lloyd noted that during that time, Jorden had no bruising or health issues, though she did slip on the ice and re-injure the finger that Alyssa had accidentally slammed in a drawer pri- or to the trip. g. New Year’s Eve at Stevens’s House On New Year’s Eve, beginning at around 9 p.m., Stevens kept the Saager children. Lloyd admitted that he had a few drinks with Ward that night. During that evening, Yolanda and Lloyd had “a spat,” so Yolanda went to bed, and Lloyd went to Stevens’s house to pick up the children at around 3 or 4 a.m. He noted that Stevens’s ex-husband was there. h. Days Preceding Death The next morning, the spat was over, and nothing abnormal occurred on Saturday, January 1, 2000. On January 2, 2000, the Saager family watched movies and played. Stevens did not keep the Saager children on January 2. On January 3, Lloyd left for work between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m., Yolanda left for work around 7:15 a.m., and all the children went to Stevens’s house. Yolanda testified that when she arrived at Stevens’s house after work to pick up her kids, there was a note on the screen door saying that they had gone to the zoo. Yolanda went to the zoo, found the kids near the entrance, and saw that Jorden had a small purple bruise under her eye. Stevens said that Jorden had been playing on the teeter-totter, that Alyssa had gotten up too quickly, and that the teeter-totter had hit Jorden in the eye. Stevens also told Yolanda that Jorden had stuck her hand in a birdcage and had gotten pecked. Yolanda was concerned about rabies, so they talked to the curator, who said to treat the circular mark like a cut. After they left the zoo, Yolanda took the kids to Ward’s house, got her checkbook, and took the kids with her to Plano so that she could sign the rental papers for a town home that they were planning to move into and to move in a load of their belongings. Yolanda said that the kids ran around the town home and that Branden stepped on Jorden’s finger and injured it a third time. When they arrived back at Ward’s house, Yolanda fed the kids a quick dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Lloyd arrived home between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. as the kids were eating. Lloyd saw that Jorden was in her high chair and heard her yell, “Daddy!” as usual. When Lloyd got closer to Jorden, he could see what looked like eyeliner on her eyes. Lloyd asked what was wrong with Jorden’s eye, and Yolanda said that it was a bruise from getting hit with the teeter totter. Lloyd and Yolanda had planned to pack up Lloyd’s truck to take another load of their belongings.to the town home in Plano; they all went to Wal-Mart to purchase a tarp to cover the items that they were moving. After they finished loading the truck, Jorden said that her tummy was hurting, and Yolanda noticed that Jorden’s stomach looked bloated. Lloyd and Yolanda thought that the milk Jorden had drunk with her sandwich had given her gas because Lloyd is allergic to milk. So Lloyd laid Jorden on the bed; rubbed her stomach with soft, slow, deliberate strokes; and tried to work her legs to help her expel the gas. Yolanda said that she was present and that Lloyd was not rubbing Jorden’s stomach forcefully, but that he did not have any luck in relieving Jorden’s discomfort. Yolanda and Lloyd decided that it was too late to make another trip to Plano. They put Alyssa and Brandon to bed, and Yolanda tried to rock Jorden to sleep. Yolanda could not get Jorden to sleep, so she simply put Jorden to bed, and Jorden slept through the night. i. Day Of Death When Jorden woke up the next morning, January 4, she said that her tummy was hurting. Before Lloyd left for work, Yolanda made Jorden eggs and toast so that Jorden would not have to eat cereal with milk, the suspected culprit of Jorden’s stomachache. Jorden only ate a bite or two. When Yolanda took the kids to Stevens’s house and dropped them off, she told Stevens that Jorden’s stomach was upset and that Jorden should ingest only Sprite and crackers. While Yolanda was at work, she did not receive any updates from Stevens regarding Jorden’s condition. After Yolanda got off work, Tracy Lester, the office manager at the doctor’s office where Yolanda worked, answered a call from a lady who said that she babysat Yolanda’s children but would not leave her name. Lester told the caller that Yolanda had just left for the day. The caller said that she did not want to leave a message. When Lester asked again if she could get the caller’s name, the caller hung up. Lester testified that the caller did not seem worried. Meanwhile, Yolanda went home to use the restroom before she picked up her children, and while she was at home, the Gainesville Hospital called and told her to come immediately. Yolanda said that she went to the emergency room, that a doctor came into Jorden’s room and closed the door, and that the doctor then told her that Jorden had died. Yolanda got on her knees and cried. Around the same time, Lloyd was on a break at work and received a call from a nurse at Dr. Gibbs’s office. The nurse told him that his daughter had fallen on the playground at Burger King, that she was on her way to the emergency room, and that he needed to go to the hospital in Gainesville. Lloyd got in his truck and left. While he was driving, his head was reeling, so he called his dad in Indianapolis. Lloyd realized that he had failed to ask the nurse which of his daughters had fallen. Lloyd’s dad told him to stop his truck and to call the highway patrol for an escort because he did not need to be driving while he was so frantic and also to call the emergency room. Lloyd skipped the call to the highway patrol but called the emergency room. Dr. Gibbs, who was at the hospital emergency room, got on the phone and told Lloyd that Jorden had passed away twenty minutes earlier. Lloyd screamed and yelled at the doctor and then called his dad, who said that he would be on his way. When Lloyd arrived at the emergency room, Stevens came over with a glass of water, and he sat down. He could not control his breathing, was hyperventilating, and went into shock. Lloyd saw Jor-den for a little while and noticed her bluish coloring. Lloyd and Yolanda did not obtain any information from Stevens at the hospital. Consequently, they believed that Jorden had been misdiagnosed by the medical professionals and that she must have died from a blood disorder. Later that day, Lloyd and Yolanda went to talk to CPS. CPS decided to take the Saagers’ other two children for emergency protection. When Lloyd and Yolanda got home, Yolanda went into their house, and Lloyd went over to Stevens’s house to find out what had happened. Stevens told Lloyd that she had taken the kids to Burger King and that Jorden was not feeling well. Stevens said that she decided to take the children home and that, when Jorden climbed out of the car, she fell on her Burger King cup. Lloyd talked to Stevens for about an hour before Yolanda came over. While Lloyd and Yolanda were at Stevens’s house, Stevens reached into her dryer and pulled out some of Jorden’s clothes, which the Saagers eventually gave to the authorities. j. Day After Death The next day, January 5, Lloyd and Yolanda made phone calls to see if the autopsy was done because CPS had told them that if the autopsy revealed that Jorden had died of some rare disease, then they could have them children back. However, they learned that day that Jorden had not died from some undiagnosed blood disease; the authorities had ruled Jorden’s death a homicide. Lloyd said that he was horrified when he heard the results. Thereafter, police detectives asked the Saagers to come to the police station. The Saagers talked to the detectives for several hours, during which time the detectives accused Lloyd and Yolanda of hurting Jor-den. The detectives also accused Yolanda of covering up for Lloyd. However, Lloyd and Yolanda both said that there was no time on January 3 or January 4 when either Lloyd or Ward were at home alone with Jorden. Yolanda said that her children are very important to her and that she had no concerns that Lloyd or Ward had anything to do with Jorden’s death; Lloyd said that he did not believe that Yolanda or Ward caused Jorden’s death. Lloyd did not complete his statement to police that day because his father caught him on a smoke break and told him not to go back in and talk to the police because he had hired a lawyer. Lloyd said that he was fearful of what would be inferred if he hired a lawyer, but he followed his dad’s instructions. Lloyd testified that he was never arrested or placed in custody for Jorden’s death. Lloyd also testified that he did not have anything to do with Jorden’s death. k. The Years After Jorden’s Death Despite the fact that prior to January 4, 2000, Lloyd and Yolanda had never been investigated by CPS, it took fifteen months for the Saagers to get Alyssa and Branden back after Jorden’s death. When Alyssa and Branden were returned to Lloyd and Yolanda, they put Alyssa and Branden in counseling with Dr. Dayna Fuchs. The kids stayed in counseling approximately one year, and during that time, Yolanda and Lloyd also met with Dr. Fuchs. During the three years that Jorden’s case was pending, Yolanda, with Lloyd’s support, went to the FBI in Sherman and tried to get the FBI to investigate Jor-den’s death; she was told that the matter was outside the FBI’s jurisdiction. Lloyd and Yolanda contacted their state representatives in Fort Worth, they picketed with “Justice for Jorden” posters outside the courthouse, they called the detectives every week for a year and a half, and they did research at Southwestern University to try to figure out what had happened to Jorden. Despite the Saagers’ best efforts, it took a long time for the story of Jorden’s death to be pieced together; many people knew only portions of the big story. 2. Facts Concerning the Medical Events of Jorden’s Death a. Rachel Moore, LVN Rachel Moore, who worked at Dr. Gibbs’s office, testified that on January 4, 2000, she saw Jorden with Stevens at about 1:30 p.m. Stevens had Jorden in her arms, approached the front desk, and asked for Jorden to be seen right away. Moore described the way Stevens was carrying Jorden as “like a sack of potatoes.” Moore said that Jorden was limp and that her head bounced with every step that Stevens took. Moore thought that Stevens should have cradled Jorden; based on what Moore saw, she did not believe that Jorden could have walked into the office on her own. Moore initially gave Stevens a clipboard to sign in on but then told her to go back immediately to the surgery room. A few seconds later, Moore met Stevens in the surgery room and had Jorden lie on a chair. Moore saw that Jorden did not look good and called out for someone to dial 911. Moore checked for Jorden’s pulse and respirations and asked Kathleen Cravens, a registered nurse, to come help. Moore testified that Jorden had a greenish cast to her, that she was “dusky looking,” and that she had a small bruise on her forehead. Jorden was not breathing regularly, but Cravens was able to find a pulse. Moore and Cravens held an oxygen mask in front of Jorden’s face because she was tossing and turning. Jorden did not appear to be alert and was not responding to them verbally. The EMS arrived promptly, and the nurses stepped out of the room to allow EMS to take over. As the EMS were leaving with Jorden, Dr. Gibbs arrived back from lunch and caught up with them. Moore felt that Jorden’s condition was so serious that she called Lloyd’s work number and asked his employer to locate him. However, she was worried that he would not arrive at the hospital before Jorden died. Moore testified that she interacted very little with Stevens but that Stevens seemed anxious. Moore overheard Stevens say that Jorden had fallen down at Burger King and that Stevens had left a note for Yolanda. Moore found out later that afternoon that Jorden had died, and she was not surprised based on her observations at the clinic. b. Janice Kathleen Cravens, RN Cravens testified that she works primarily with Dr. McLeroy at McLeroy, Gibbs, & Klein Clinic, a family clinic. On January 4, 2000, they had an emergency situation at the clinic sometime between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. Moore, who was in the procedure room, yelled for help, so Cravens joined her. Cravens testified that she saw a little girl lying on the table with bad color — her hands were blue. The girl was “pretty limp” and appeared to be unconscious but was moving a bit. Cravens’s first impression was that the little girl was in serious trouble; so the second that she saw Jorden, she yelled, “Call 911,” and the office manager made the phone call. Cravens said that Jorden’s eyes were closed, so she did not check Jorden’s pupils. Jorden did not respond to her name or to touch and did not verbalize anything or even cry. Jorden had a bruise on her forehead, her nose was a little bloody, and her abdomen was very distended. Cravens and Moore held an oxygen mask to Jorden’s face because she kept turning her head from side to side like she was aggravated by it. Dr. Gibbs was not there at that time. Cravens testified that the EMS arrived very quickly, looked at Jorden very briefly, and took her out to the ambulance in their arms. Dr. Gibbs arrived and went to meet the EMS. Cravens talked to Stevens briefly and found out that she was the babysitter. Stevens gave Cravens the impression that Jorden was ill because Stevens said that Jorden had been vomiting, so Stevens had only given her Sprite and crackers. Cravens asked Stevens about Jorden’s head and nose, and Stevens said that she was at Burger King and that Jorden had gotten “wobbly” and had fallen onto the sidewalk face forward. Stevens said that she picked up Jorden and brought her to the doctor’s office straight from Burger King. Cravens included in her nurse’s statement, which she made from the medical records, that Stevens had told her that Jorden had played with other kids at Burger King and that she had started getting ill on the way back to the car after playing. Cravens testified that the hospital was closer to Burger King than the clinic and that, in retrospect, it struck her as odd that Stevens brought Jorden to the clinic instead of the hospital; a child that severely ill should have been taken straight to the emergency room. Cravens knew within an hour of Jorden’s departure from the clinic that she had died; Cravens was not surprised because she knew that Jorden was in serious trouble when she saw her. c. David Andrews, EMT David Andrews, a licensed paramedic and EMT, testified that he was dispatched at 1:36 p.m. on January 4, 2000, along with three others, to an emergency at Dr. Gibbs’s clinic. They arrived at 1:39 p.m. and found Jorden lying on a bed in one of the clinic rooms. Jorden was unresponsive, her pupils were fixed and dilated, her abdomen was distended and very rigid, and she was still breathing on her own but only eight times a minute. Andrews noticed bruising on Jorden’s forehead and face. Andrews picked up Jorden in his arms, ran to the ambulance with her, and attempted several procedures there. Andrews tried to intubate Jorden, but her teeth were clenched such that he could not get the tube down her throat. Andrews attempted to start an IV line but was unsuccessful. They worked on Jorden for a little while before Dr. Gibbs joined them and also attempted unsuccessfully to intubate Jorden as they transported her to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital at 1:49 p.m., Andrews carried Jor-den in to the emergency room doctors. Afterwards, he sat and wrote his report. Stevens told him that the child’s mother had told her that morning that Jorden was spitting up and instructed Stevens not to give Jorden any food, only something to drink. Stevens said that she took the children to Burger King to play and that she only gave Jorden a Coke. Stevens stated that after they got home, Jorden got out of the vehicle, took a few steps, and fell forward. She said that she picked up Jorden and put her in bed. Later, she went to check on Jorden and thought that she just did not look right, so she took her to Dr. Gibbs’s office. Stevens was not emotional (i.e., she was not crying and did not appear upset) when he talked to her; she was very straightforward with her story. Andrews stated that even if Stevens had received EMT training, which would help her remain calm in stressful situations, he would have expected some type of distress from her because she was Jor-den’s babysitter and would have some type of intimate relationship with the child. Andrews was still at the hospital when the doctors pronounced Jorden dead. The news of her death did not surprise him because of the way Jorden had presented; her heart had basically stopped when he carried her into the hospital, and her injuries were incompatible with life. He noted that a lot of people who sustain traumatic injuries have clenched teeth in response to the injury. He stated that Jorden’s fixed and dilated pupils indicated that she had suffered a serious injury, as did her rigid, distended abdomen. Andrews said that he did not know what had caused Jorden’s death. d. Dr. Mark Gibbs, Family Doctor After lunch on January 4, 2000, Dr. Gibbs arrived at his clinic to find an emergency; an ambulance was in the carport, which was not a common occurrence. He found Jorden in the ambulance and noticed that she was blue, was not breathing, was braised from head to toe, and was physically traumatized. He found a little bit of a french fry in the corner of her cheek when he was trying to intubate her. He was unable to intubate Jorden because of the movement of the ambulance; she was “bagged” with an ambu bag during the ride to the hospital. Jorden died within a few minutes of arriving at the hospital. Dr. Gibbs talked to Stevens when he walked through the clinic on his way to the ambulance. He said that she was evasive and that he did not really understand her story because she gave two different accounts in the sixty seconds that he talked to her. Stevens told Dr. Gibbs that the children were at Burger King and that Jorden had fallen. Dr. Gibbs asked Stevens if Jorden had come to the clinic immediately after the fall, and Stevens said no. Stevens then said that she had taken the children home and that Jorden had fallen on the sidewalk. Dr. Gibbs asked whether Jorden had fallen at Burger King or on the sidewalk, and Stevens replied that Jorden had fallen on the sidewalk. Dr. Gibbs testified that he thought it was odd that Stevens did not have an exact record of an event that had just happened moments beforehand that involved a significant injury. He described Stevens as nervous and said that Jorden’s injuries and condition were not consistent with a fall. Dr. Gibbs said that Yolanda was an emotional wreck when she learned of Jorden’s death. Dr. Gibbs stated that Lloyd called in while he was driving to the hospital and wailed like Dr. Gibbs had never heard before when he gave Lloyd the news of Jorden’s death. Dr. Gibbs testified that on the day that Jorden died, none of the medical professionals knew for sure what had killed her. He said that he did not hear anyone at the hospital say that Jorden had died of a ruptured spleen or a head injury or that she had been hit with a broomstick. e. Dr. Benjamin Respess, ER doctor Dr. Respess testified that he was an emergency room physician on January 4, 2000, and that the emergency room received a call that an ambulance was bringing in a critically ill child from Dr. McLer-oy’s office. Dr. Gibbs brought the child through the emergency room door at 1:51 p.m., and she was clinically dead when she arrived. Immediately after Jorden arrived, the emergency room staff examined her and noted that she had breath sounds, that her abdomen was distended, that she had pulseless electrical activity (i.e., there was electrical activity in her heart, but it was not producing anything) which dropped within a minute to no cardiac output of any type, and that she had bruising on her face, forehead, and abdomen. They started CPR and called anesthesia, which got her intubated. They also put two large bore TVs in her and went through the Pediatric Advanced Life Support protocol, giving her medications to restart her cardiovascular system. They worked on Jorden for eighteen minutes before pronouncing her dead at 2:09 p.m. Dr. Respess testified that they noticed a lot of things about Jorden as they were working on her, but they did not have a lot of information about what might have happened to cause the tragedy. For instance, when they put a nasogastric tube down her nose to her stomach to try to get out the air that was caused by her being bagged with oxygen on the way to the hospital, they got nothing, which told them that her abdomen was not distended due to air. He said that someone pointed out that Jorden’s rectum was dilated. Dr. Respess testified that the rectum can become dilated after any central nervous system trauma or with cardiovascular collapse and that he did not have any concerns that Jorden had been sexually assaulted because the rectal dilatation looked like the product of injury and the dying process. Dr. Respess described photos of Jorden that were admitted into evidence. He testified that Jorden had bruises on non-weight bearing areas, such as her medial right thigh, which is an area where the child would not bruise if she fell. Consequently, he said that he felt there was a force applied to that area to cause the injury. He said that Jorden had bruising on her abdomen and that the blue lines were engorged veins on the abdominal wall. He also noted a handprint bruise on Jorden’s back, a bruise on the back of her scalp, a bruise under the hair on her forehead, injuries on her eyelids and on the right side of her face, and two separate abrasions on her head, one of which was buried in her hair. Dr. Respess questioned the parents about family medical history and learned that they had a history of blood dyscrasia (easy bruising). However, he also remembered hearing that Jorden and her family had gone on vacation, that the bruising,had gotten better, and that it reappeared when they returned from vacation. Dr. Respess testified that the injuries he saw were not consistent with a child who had fallen face forward and that the medical procedures performed on Jorden would not have caused the abrasions to Jorden’s head, the bruises to her body, or the distention of her abdomen. On the day of Jorden’s death, Dr. Res-pess did not hear any doctors or nurses say that Jorden had died of a ruptured spleen or a concussion. On January 4, 2000, he had no idea how Jorden had died; he did not find out the cause of her death until the week before trial. Dr. Respess said that in his twenty-seven or twenty-eight years as an emergency room doctor, he has never had a patient (other than Jorden) with a completely transected duodenum, which he said is a tremendous injury. He said that somebody with that injury would not function for very long because just a pinhole in the bowel would cause a person to get very sick within a few hours. He stated that if a child is not acting properly, she has probably been sick for longer than an adult because a child has reserves of energy and will act through a lot of pain. However, once a child begins to go downhill, it is not unusual for her to crash quickly. f. Audi Hayes, RN Audi Hayes, a registered nurse who was employed at Gainesville Memorial Hospital on January 4, 2000, testified that she first saw Jorden as she was being brought in through the emergency room doors by the ambulance crew. Hayes echoed Dr. Res-pess’s testimony regarding the procedures that they performed on Jorden. Hayes noticed that there was bruising on Jor-den’s lower back, extremities, and around her face. Hayes said that Jorden’s rectum looked unusual because it was pushed out but testified that she is not a sexual abuse nurse examiner and that the rectal distention could be the result of the pressure in Jorden’s stomach. Hayes understood that Stevens was Jor-den’s babysitter. Hayes specifically asked Stevens if Jorden had fallen, and Stevens said, “No.” Hayes remembered that, after Jorden died, Yolanda held her for a long time and wailed. Although Stevens was sitting in the same room with Yolanda, Stevens did not console Yolanda. Hayes also remembered Yolanda’s saying that their family had gone on vacation and that Jorden had “gotten better,” but when they came back, the bruising started again. Hayes did not recall any discussion among the medical personnel regarding Jorden’s having been hit with a broomstick. 3. Facts Concerning the Investigation After Jorden’s Death a. Alicia Burseron, Gainesville PD Alicia Burseron, who was employed by the Gainesville Police Department in January 2000, received a call on January 4, 2000, to go to Gainesville Memorial Hospital emergency room to investigate a possible assault on a child resulting in death. When Burseron arrived, she recognized Stevens from the day before. Burseron asked Stevens why she was there, and Stevens said that she had brought in the child who was in the emergency room; Burseron immediately connected Stevens to the child that she (Burseron) already knew was deceased. Burseron thought Stevens’s demeanor was odd; Stevens did not act concerned or upset, as Burseron would expect of someone who had brought a seriously injured child to the emergency room. Burseron went and saw Jorden, who looked different than the day before. Bur-seron saw that Jorden was bruised all over and that her stomach was bloated. Bur-seron was present when the parents said their final goodbyes to Jorden and testified that both parents appeared genuinely grief stricken. Burseron talked to Stevens again, after Stevens was detained by police. Stevens said that she had met the Saagers at the end of August 1999 and had started babysitting Jorden in November. Stevens said that Jorden had been sick to her stomach and sick in general ever since she met her. On the day in question, Stevens said that she had taken Jorden and her kids to Burger King and that they had played on the playground. Burseron wrote in her report that Stevens told her that Jorden had not been feeling well all day and that Stevens had been advised by Jorden’s mother not to feed Jorden anything to upset her stomach. Stevens said that Jor-den had one french fry and some Sprite at Burger King. Stevens said that Jorden rubbed her eyes as if she were tired, so Stevens took the children to her house to lay them down for a nap. Stevens stated that when Jorden was walking from the vehicle to the residence, she seemed very lethargic and fell face down, dropping her drink. Stevens said that Jorden’s fall occurred in the driveway and that the fall caused a laceration to Jorden’s lip. When Stevens laid Jorden down for a nap, she was crying from the fall and seemed uncomfortable. Stevens told Burseron that she put Jorden’s arms over her chest and rocked her from side to side. Stevens said that Jorden’s lips and eyes were swollen and that Jorden vomited numerous times. Stevens told Burseron that she left a note on the door to tell Yolanda that they had gone to the park, but Burseron could not remember if Stevens told her why she left a note saying that they were going to the park when in fact Stevens took Jorden to Dr. Gibbs’s office. Stevens said that she took Jorden to Dr. Gibbs’s office and that, during the exam, Jorden’s lips turned blue. Stevens said that a nurse called for an ambulance to transport Jorden to the emergency room, that Dr. Gibbs rode in the ambulance, and that she drove her vehicle to the emergency room. b. Bill Freeman, Former JP Bill Freeman, who was formerly the justice of the peace for Cooke County, received a call to go to the hospital on January 4, 2000, in response to an unnatural death. When he arrived, Jorden was on a stretcher in a trauma room and had multiple bruises all over her body, including one in the middle of her back in the shape of a handprint. Freeman learned that Stevens was Jorden’s caretaker, so he questioned her. Freeman noted that Stevens was not in any type of emotional distress at the hospital and that her primary focus was explaining Jorden’s bruises. Initially, Stevens told him that Jorden had a blood disorder — diagnosed at Cook Children’s Hospital- — -that caused her to bruise easily. Stevens said that Jorden had gotten out of the car with a Coke cup and was holding it with both hands. Stevens stated that Jor-den stumbled and fell forward. She did not try to catch herself, so she fell flat on her face. Stevens said that after Jorden fell, she got back up and walked into the house. Stevens told Freeman that she laid Jorden in bed with her and that she kept rolling around and crying. Stevens said that she knew that Jorden was sick, so she took her to the doctor’s office. Freeman said that Stevens’s story might explain some of the bruises on Jorden’s face, but it did not explain the bruises elsewhere on Jorden’s body. c. Ronnie Williams, Gainesville PD Ronnie Williams, who worked for the Gainesville Police Department in January 2000, assisted with the investigation of Jor-den’s death. He went to the hospital to talk to Stevens. They sat in his car and talked, and as soon as they were finished talking, he wrote down what Stevens had said. During this first interview, which occurred about 3:30 p.m., Stevens did not mention that Jorden had suffered any type of fall. After interviewing Stevens, Williams and other detectives went to Stevens’s house and entered with Stevens’s permission. They took a diaper and the note that Stevens had left on the door for Yolanda. They took a Burger King cup with liquid in it and a white bowl with a food substance in it. They noted that there were washed clothes in the washing machine, but Stevens did not give them any clothing items. Around 5:55 p.m., the police took a more formal, recorded statement from Stevens. Stevens said that Jorden was wearing a purple jogging suit, that Jorden had thrown up on it, and that she had washed it. Stevens told the police that Jorden seemed tired and did not want to play. However, Stevens took her to Burger King for lunch. During this interview, Stevens said that when they arrived home, Jorden exited the car, took four or five steps, and fell. After Jorden fell, Stevens said that she put Jorden down for a nap and later took her to the doctor. Stevens mentioned that the Saagers had been investigated before by CPS. Stevens said that Yolanda had told her about the CPS investigation one night when she brought Jorden over because she was sick. Yolanda told Stevens that Branden’s brain had swollen, that they had taken him to the hospital to relieve the pressure, and that the hospital staff had initiated a call to CPS. Stevens said that she did not know when the referral took place or whether the allegation was true, but she said that was the only time that the Saagers had been investigated. d. Dr. David Dolinak, Medical Examiner Dr. David Dolinak, a forensic pathologist, testified that he performed the autopsy on Jorden on January 5, 2000. He described Jorden as a two-and-a-half-year-old female who was three feet tall and weighed thirty-six pounds — a normally developed, well-nourished toddler. He then proceeded to list Jorden’s injuries. Dr. Dolinak first mentioned the injuries that Jorden had on her extremities: a one- and-a-half-inch bruise on her left elbow, a one-inch bruise and a one-fourth-inch bruise on the back of her left forearm, and a three-fourth-inch abrasion on her right elbow. He said that there were no injuries on Jorden’s legs. He then described the injuries on her head: bruises in the inner parts of the eyelids of each eye, two small hemorrhages in the right lower eyelid, a one-eighth-inch scrape at the tip of her nose, a one-fourth-inch scrape below her right nostril, a five-eighths-inch bruise in the middle of her forehead, a one-and-one-fourth-inch abrasion on the left upper forehead involving the hairline, a two-or three-inch area of bleeding or bruising underneath the forehead, a one-fourth-inch bruise to the side of her right eyebrow, a three-fourth-inch bruise on the left side of the head, a seven-eighths-inch bruise above the left ear, a three-fourth-inch bruise toward the back of the left upper region of the scalp, a one-inch abrasion near the middle of the back of the scalp, underneath which was a two-inch area of contusion in the scalp tissue, and a one-and-three-fourth-inch bruise in the right back of the scalp that had about a two-inch area of underlying bruise associated with it. Jorden also had a skull fracture that was four to five inches long on the back left part of her skull. Dr. Dolinak considered this to be a significant fracture that would immediately have affected Jorden, causing her significant pain and resulting in her reacting “pretty noticeably.” Because Dr. Dolinak did not see any healing attempts of the bone and because there was only a little inflammation in the tissue, he opined that the fracture was fairly recent. He said that he would have expected to see evidence of some brain injury, like bleeding beyond the surface of the brain and brain swelling, but he did not see anything like that. He explained the absence by stating that it was either an anomaly or that death had ensued soon after the fracture, causing the body not to have time for the brain to swell or for bleeding to occur. Jorden had three bruises that lined up next to each other in the central part of her lower back, and those bruises comprised a one-and-three-fourth-inch by one- and-a-half-ineh area. Dr. Dolinak testified that the bruises on Jorden’s back may have resembled marks like fingers, but he could not say for sure that a hand had caused them. With regard to the bruises, Dr. Dolinak testified that some of the bruises looked older than others, but all of the bruises were there when the child died. He said that he ran iron stains, which showed older injuries in the mesentery, in the fingerlike bruises on the back, and in two of the bruises on the scalp. Those injuries were at least forty-eight hours old because it takes that long for an injury to test positive for iron; however, once an iron stain is positive, the iron can “hang around for quite a while.” Dr. Dolinak testified that Jorden’s external genitalia looked normally developed and that he did not see anything unusual. Although the autopsy picture showed that her anus had lost its normal fold pattern, the autopsy report stated that the anus appeared atraumatic. He said that he did not see anything that would make him concerned that Jorden had been sexually abused. Jorden’s abdomen had a half-inch bruise on the left side and a kind of squared-off-looking bruise in the lower right abdomen near her belly button. Dr. Dolinak testified that if someone had stomped on Jor-den’s abdomen with a long heel, it might require less force to make this squarish imprint. Jorden’s abdomen was distended and larger than Dr. Dolinak expected. When he opened up Jorden’s abdomen, he discovered that approximately half a liter of bowel contents had escaped from her bowel and were in her abdominal cavity. Dr. Dolinak stated that the fibrinopurulent material that was found around Jorden’s bowel takes approximately twenty-four hours to form. There were two tears in the mesentery tissue ' around Jorden’s small bowel that would not have been immediately debilitating but would have caused pain and irritation. He also said that Jorden’s duodenum had been transected such that the two ends of her bowel were completely torn apart. Dr. Dolinak described this as a major injury to the duodenum, which could cause death. He said that it would take a severe impact for the duodenum to be transected and that such an impact would cause the duodenum to be sandwiched between whatever force was pressing down on the abdomen and the bony vertebral column that the bowel passes over. After discussing the above findings, Dr. Dolinak testified that the cause of Jorden’s death was shock and sepsis as a result of the transection of her bowel and said that Jorden’s head injury could have contributed to her death. He said that he did not find evidence of any disease or medical condition that would have caused Jorden’s death. Dr. Dolinak was unable to pinpoint the exact time that Jorden’s fatal injuries were, inflicted. He said that it is often difficult to determine the precise point in time when an injury has occurred in a young child because of children’s more varied reactions to injuries and pain. He stated that a person experiencing leakage of the small intestine might not have symptoms right away because the contents of the small intestine have a more neutral pH and are not as acidic as those in the large intestine. He said that he would have expected Jorden to complain of her head hurting, of her stomach hurting, and of being cold, from sepsis and shock. He stated that a child could easily lose consciousness from a skull fracture and would have had a headache, been groggy, looked dazed, and not been herself. He said that Jorden probably would have had a decreased appetite and eventually no appetite. But he opined that Jorden could have gotten over these initial symptoms and continued to act like herself for some period of time. Dr. Dolinak initially provided a time frame for Jorden’s fatal injuries of twelve to eighteen hours before death. His autopsy notes indicate that his pathological findings were consistent with a finding that injuries were inflicted on Jorden on the evening of January 3, 2000. His notes further state that “it is difficult to believe, but not impossible, that Jorden may have been running around asymptomatic with those injuries at the apartment showing; but most likely, those injuries were inflicted after the showing.” He testified that he thought that Jorden could have run up and down stairs after the duodenum had separated. Dr. Dolinak’s notes from April 2000 also echo this theory that Jorden’s abdominal and head injuries were likely inflicted the evening before the day that she died based on the timing of her first complaints of head and abdominal pain. He clarified by stating that he understood that Jorden’s eyes were watery, that she had bluish discoloration around her lips, and that the inside of her eyes were very red at 3:30 p.m. at the town home showing on January 3, 2000, which would indicate to him that something had already happened to Jorden. With regard to Jorden playing at Burger King, Dr. Dolinak testified that he would have expected her to be sicker because she died shortly thereafter and that it is possible that the fatal assault had not yet occurred. He ultimately testified that Jorden’s injury could have been inflicted anywhere from less than eight hours to forty-eight hours before her death. Based on this time frame and Jorden’s death at 2:09 p.m. on January 4, 2000, Dr. Dolinak concluded that the fatal injuries occurred between 2:09 p.m. on January 2, 2000, and 6:09 a.m. on January 4, 2000. Dr. Dolinak said that one reason that he had expanded the estimated time frame was because Jorden’s duodenum may not have completely separated at the time of the blow and because he had reviewed literature on the subject and had discussions with surgeons. Dr. Dolinak testified that Jorden had a non-accidental pattern of injuries and that in his opinion, the injuries were inflicted intentionally or knowingly — knowing that the injuries were probably going to kill the child. He stated that a person stomping on Jorden’s abdomen could have caused her small bowel to separate and that a person kicking Jorden in the head could have caused the four- to five-inch fracture. He further testified that he would not expect to see all the injuries that Jorden had from a simple fall. e. Dana Huckabee, CPS Dana Huckabee testified that-she was an investigator with the CPS office in Gaines-ville in January 2000 and that between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. on January 4, 2000, she received a call from a police detective requesting that she come to the emergency room. Once she arrived, the police and justice of the peace informed her that a child had died with suspicious injuries and that the death was unexplained. She saw Jorden and noted her bruising. Huckabee stated that her primary role was to determine the safety of the two other children in the Saager home. Huck-abee met with the Saager family later that afternoon. She noted that Yolanda was particularly upset and distressed, that Lloyd seemed shocked and was trying to console Yolanda, and that neither Yolanda nor Lloyd seemed to understand what had happened to Jorden. Yolanda told Huckabee that in September 1999 they started noticing Jorden’s health problems, which consisted of petec-hiae on her hands, a cold, and an ear infection. Later, they noticed that Jorden had started bruising. Yolanda mentioned that she caught Jorden putting her fingers down her throat on occasion, but Jorden did not throw up. Yolanda told Hucka-bee that Jorden would cry about going to Stevens’s house and that she (Yolanda) felt like Jorden did not like to go there. Lloyd told Huckabee that sometimes he felt like maybe he played too rough with the children. During her investigation, Huckabee determined that Yolanda and Lloyd had no history with and had never been investigated by CPS in Texas, Florida, Colorado, or anywhere else. Huckabee conducted informal interviews with Branden and Alyssa, who were five and three years old, but did not obtain much information because of their young ages. Because Huckabee was more concerned about what was going on in their house, she did not ask Branden or Alyssa about what went on in their babysitter’s home. Although there was no indication that Branden and Alyssa had been abused in any way, after a staff meeting with her supervisor, Huckabee decided to place Branden and Alyssa in foster care as a result of Jorden’s unexplained death. When Huckabee told Yolanda and Lloyd that CPS was putting Branden and Alyssa in foster care pending Jorden’s autopsy results, they responded appropriately and were supportive of the children. Branden and Alyssa stayed in foster care for at least nine months before they were returned to their parents. Huckabee talked to Stevens at her home on January 5, 2000. Stevens told Hucka-bee that she had started babysitting the Saager kids on December 3,1999, and that she babysat Branden a few times during the Christmas break and on New Year’s Eve. Stevens said that she had taken Jorden to the zoo with her on January 3, 2000, and that an African crane had pecked Jorden on the hand. Stevens stated that Jorden had been sick frequently, that she bruised easily and frequently, and that she threw up every day. Stevens said that the Saagers had taken Jorden to Cook Children’s Hospital and that the tests revealed that Jorden was fine. Huckabee noted that Stevens spent a lot of time telling her about Jor-den’s vomiting, which led Huckabee to believe that Jorden was very sickly. Stevens said that Yolanda told her that Jorden’s lips and stomach were swollen the night before January 4, 2000. On the morning of January 4, 2000, Yolanda told Stevens that Jorden did not need to have citrus and that she could have toast. For lunch that day, Stevens said that she, Jor-den, Alyssa, and Matthew went to Burger King. Jorden had a drink and tried to eat a french fry, but Stevens would not let her because of Yolanda’s instructions. When they returned to Stevens’s home, Jorden took two or three steps and fell on her face. Stevens said that she was worried that the straw in Jorden’s drink had gone down her throat, but Jorden got up on her own and appeared to be okay. Stevens put Jorden down for a nap; but she was restless, and Stevens could not keep a blanket on her. Jorden told her that she was cold. Stevens said that it looked like Jorden was looking through her and that at about 1:00 p.m., she decided to take Jorden to Dr. Gibbs’s office. Stevens stated that Jorden was awake when they arrived at Dr. Gibbs’s office and that she carried her in, though she felt that Jorden could have walked on her own. She said that they went into an exam room and that the nurse tried to put an oxygen mask on Jorden, but Jorden was batting it away and saying, “No, no.” During Huckabee’s interview with Stevens’s children, Huckabee noted that there were things about them that seemed odd. She said that Taylor was a little reserved but seemed happy and that Mason was difficult to engage as he turned his rear end to her and looked through his legs. Stevens’s children denied getting into trouble at home and did not want to talk about it, which was a red flag for Huckabee. Huckabee subsequently learned that Stevens had been untruthful, and CPS removed Stevens’s children from her care on January 11, 2000, even though no evidence of physical abuse was discovered. Huck-abee testified that Stevens did not respond appropriately when she was asked to explain to her children what was happening; ultimately the police escorted Stevens away. f. Anthony Anderson, CPS Anthony Anderson became involved with Stevens and the Saagers in March 2000 after Huckabee transferred to another CPS office. He stated that the purpose of his investigation was to determine the safety or risk that existed to the two sets of children who had been removed, Stevens’s children and the Saagers’ children. As part of his investigation, he interviewed Dr. Gibbs, nurse Cravens, and another nurse from the clinic and obtained statements from them. He also did a great deal of research on the case before he contacted Stevens to arrange an interview with her. He said that the first time that he talked with Stevens on the phone, she said multiple things that he knew were false. He interviewed Stevens in person on March 23, 2000, at her attorney’s office and was not permitted to record the interview, so he took notes and made a report. At the in-person interview, Stevens told him that Jorden’s condition on January 4, 2000, was nothing unusual other than a sour stomach and that Jorden did not complain of feeling poorly. Stevens said that Jorden threw up once because of her sour stomach, so Stevens changed Jorden and washed her clothes. Anderson’s notes indicate that Stevens told him that she had changed Jorden’s diaper more than once because Jorden had more than one bowel movement during the day. Despite having changed Jorden’s clothes and diapers— exposing Jorden’s abdomen — when Anderson asked Stevens about Jorden’s bloated stomach, Stevens stated that she had not seen any bloating or distention. Stevens said that she. took the children to eat at Burger King, but Jorden only ate a french fry. Jorden said that she wanted to go play with Alyssa, and thereafter Jorden played in the balls and slid down the slide. Stevens indicated that Jorden was walking around and moving normally. Stevens said that after about thirty to forty-five minutes at Burger King, Jorden had rubbed her eyes and acted tired, so Stevens took the children back to the house to take a nap. When they got home, Jorden fell flat on her face between the carport and the driveway. Stevens did not alter her story despite having seen Jor-den’s autopsy photos. Anderson testified that he also interviewed the Saagers. He said that when he concluded his investigation, he recommended that the Saager children be reunited with their parents. g. Cindy Stormer, Ad Litem Cindy Stormer testified that before she became the Cooke County District Attorney, she was in private practice and was appointed attorney ad litem for Stevens’s children in the civil suit terminating Stevens’s parental rights. Stormer interviewed Stevens’s children — Taylor, Mason, and Matthew — and found that they were the most abnormally behaving children that she had ever interviewed. Stormer described the children as “very robot-like” and said that they appeared to be brainwashed because they kept repeating the same phrases over and over again as if they had been coached. Stormer said that she took Stevens’s deposition on June 6, 2000, and that it lasted most of the day. Stevens testified that she started caring for Yolanda’s children on November 29, 1999, and that Jor-den received a bruise on that first day because she fell out of a toy car. Stevens believed that Jorden was taken to Dr. Gibbs the day after she started babysitting her; however, the medical records indicated that Jorden was taken to Dr. Gibbs on November 17, 1999, not on November 30, 1999. Stevens said that Jorden reinjured her finger when Alyssa slammed it in a drawer; Stevens was evasive about how Jorden injured her finger the first time and why this was a reinjury. Stevens admitted that sometimes Jorden did not want to come to her house and would hold onto her mother. Stevens also admitted that she had told someone that the Saagers had a history with CPS in Florida, and she said that she had obtained that information from Yolanda. Stevens said that she had told people that she was a pharmacy technician but denied saying that she was a pharmacist. Stevens' said that the only injury that Jorden had when she arrived at her house on the morning of January 4, 2000, was a contusion on the right side of her face, which Stevens thought Jorden had received by falling in the snow when she was on an out-of-state trip. Stevens stated that on January 4, 2000, Jorden threw up several times and that she had thrown up every day that she had babysat her. She admitted changing Jorden’s clothes and washing them because they had vomit on them. Stevens said that they went to Burger King and that Jorden played, walked around, and appeared to be healthy and normal. Stevens said that she assisted Jorden with sliding by putting her at the top. Stevens said that at one point, Jor-den was restless and sleepy, but she still acted normally. Stevens said that when they got back from Burger King and were walking into the house, Jorden fell on the concrete driveway but did not cry. Stevens said that event was her first cause for alarm. Stevens said that she went straight to Dr. Gibbs’s office from her home at about 1:00 p.m. Stevens admitted that she lived closer to the hospital than to Dr. Gibbs’s office. Stevens also admitted leaving a note on January 4 on the back door for Yolanda but stated that the note said that they had gone to the doctor. When asked why she took Jorden to the doctor instead of to the hospital, Stevens said that “it was not so serious that I thought she needed hospital care. I thought she needed to be seen by her doctor.” Stevens admitted that no one else had access to Jorden between 7 a.m. when she was dropped off by Yolanda and the time that she died. h. Leslie Switzer, Social Worker Leslie Switzer, a clinical social worker, counseled Stevens’s children, Taylor and Mason, from May 2000 until January 2001. Initially, the children were very guarded and reserved and said that they could not talk about their previous home life or they would get in trouble with their mot