Mitchell found guilty of murder

By Tracy M. Neal Staff Writer // tracyn@nwanews.com
Posted on Friday, September 15, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/39726/
BENTONVILLE — Samantha Anne Mitchell sat alone crying at the defense table
moments before jurors entered the courtroom to announce their verdict on
whether she was guilty of killing a 4-month-old boy.

Mitchell, 32, could be heard sobbing while sitting at the defense table in the silent
courtroom. The prosecutors, her defense attorneys, the jury and the judge had yet
to enter the courtroom.

Mitchell, still crying, stood between her attorneys, Drew Miller and Kristin
Pawlik, as Circuit Judge David Clinger announced the jury’s verdict.

It took jurors about six hours Thursday to reach their verdict. The nine men and
three women found Mitchell guilty of second-degree murder, a class B felony,
which is punishable with a prison sentence ranging from five to 20 years.

Mitchell had sat crying with her head down through much of the four days of her
trial.

Mitchell had been charged with first-degree murder and faced possible life
imprisonment, but the jurors returned with a lesser charge.

Jurors chose to go home Thursday afternoon and continue Friday morning with
the sentencing phase of the proceedings.

Mitchell, who was a daycare provider, is accused of shaking 4-month-old

Dominick Sanders and causing severe brain injuries that resulted in his death.

The child’s parents — Reggie and Shawnese Sanders — took their son to St.
Mary’s Hospital on March 15, 2005. The child was unresponsive and having
seizures after his mother picked him up at Mitchell’s home. He was transferred to
Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where he died four days later.

Prosecutors presented medical testimony and other evidence to show that the
child’s death was the result of being violently shaken. The child’s brain was
swollen from the injuries, and he also had blood on his brain and behind his eyes.
The injuries are signs of shaken-baby syndrome.

Mitchell’s defense attorneys presented a case in which they claimed the child may
have had a genetic condition. They also claimed that Mitchell’s 2-year-old son
had shaken a swing while Dominick was in it and caused the injuries.
Mitchell’s 5-year-old son testified during the trial that he saw his younger brother
shaking the swing.

However, the boy also said his mother was mad at Dominick the day of the
incident, and his mother had also spanked the baby.

Jurors had four options to choose from: first-degree murder, second-degree

murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.

“ The evidence shows Samantha Mitchell violently and forcibly shook Dominick
Sanders to death, ” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Van Stone told jurors in his closing
statements.

Stone described Dominick as a healthy, thriving and growing baby and dismissed
any claims that Dominick had a medical condition which led to his death.

“ Dominick didn’t have a chance, ” Stone said. “ That tells you something about
the force which is consistent with being in a high-velocity car wreck. Everyone in
this courtroom knows you shouldn’t shake a child. It’s common sense. ”

Stone was critical of defense attorneys’ claims that Mitchell could not have
committed the crime because she had a cast on her right arm, and of the idea that
a 2-year-old committed the act that led to Dominick’s death. “ They would have
you believe that her own 2-year-old son is a killer, ” Stone told jurors.

The prosecutors said neither of Mitchell’s sons had the strength to cause the
injuries that led to Dominick’s death.

“ One person murdered that little guy, ” Stone said as he looked at a photograph
of a smiling Dominick cast on the wall by an overhead projector.

Miller urged jurors to get past their sympathy for the loss of a child, but said if a
crime was committed, it was negligent homicide instead of murder in the first
degree.

Miller claimed that prosecutors did not present any proof that his client had
intended to harm the infant. The defense attorney pointed out that Mitchell did
not intend to harm the child.

Miller pointed out that Dominick did not have any bruises, marks or fractures on
his body. Miller reiterated during his closing arguments testimony from a doctor
who said some retinal hemorrhages behind Dominick’s eyes were healing and
could have been weeks old.

Miller also said the cast on his client’s right arm prevented her from committing
the act. Miller told the panel that Mitchell’s 5-year-old son testified and told the
jury what happened that day.
“ I am certain that you have no doubt that Dominick’s death is a tragedy and loss,
” Miller told jurors. “ You will have no doubt that lives have been altered. But I
submit that there is great doubt that a crime has been committed. ”

Miller told jurors never to forget the child, but that their duty was to follow the
law.

The jury will consider Mitchell’s sentencing Friday after hearing testimony and
arguments from attorneys.

Clinger allowed Mitchell to remain free until Friday morning on her previously
posted $ 100, 000 bond, if her bonding company would allow the bond to stand.