Injured tot was What really happened to 2-year-old Natasha Faufata? Did she choke on a doughnut, or was it homicide?
OK, lawyer says
But the state says Natasha
Faufata died because her
mother failed to get help
By Debra Barayuga
Star-BulletinIt will be up to Circuit Judge Michael Town to decide as he hears evidence over the next few weeks in the murder trial of the toddler's mother, Dorothy Marie Faufata, and her former boyfriend, David Martinez. The nonjury trial began yesterday.
Faufata, 28, and Martinez, 41, are both charged with second-degree murder by omission -- failing to seek timely medical care for Faufata's daughter. Martinez is also charged with commission -- inflicting the injuries that caused the toddler's death. If convicted, both face a life term with the possibility of parole.
According to medical examiners, Natasha's death was caused by swelling of the brain. Inhalation of food or vomit in her lungs also contributed to her death.
In opening statements yesterday, defense attorneys said Natasha was talking, playing and eating just fine early on March 18, 1994. But later that afternoon in Martinez's company, she choked on food, cutting off oxygen to the brain and causing her brain to swell, the attorneys said.
The state said Natasha was a battered child and that the injuries she suffered were not accidental, but inflicted. Given her injuries, Natasha should not have been walking around at all that day, the state said.
The defense does not dispute Natasha had injuries. She had bruises and scrapes on her face, head, back and legs that were in different stages of healing. She had a fractured forearm that had not been treated and what appeared to be cigarette burns on the soles of both feet, palms and elbows.
But the injuries were not so life-threatening that Faufata felt her daughter needed immediate medical attention, said her attorney Chester Kanai.
"Therefore, there is no omission on the part of Dorothy Faufata for failure to seek timely medical assistance for her daughter."
Deputy public defender Todd Eddins described Martinez as a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy who fixed cars, loved his kids and treated Natasha as one of his own. "David Martinez is not a baby-killer," Eddins said.
Although he was not bound by any legal duty for her care, Martinez rushed the toddler to the Palolo Fire Station after she apparently gagged and lost consciousness as they watched TV in his shack, Eddins said.
After firefighters and paramedics unsuccessfully tried to revive her, the tot was taken to Kapiolani Medical Center. She was pronounced dead three days later.
Experts for the prosecution will show that Natasha was in "dire need of medical attention for hours -- hours, if not more -- before she was given medical assistance," said deputy prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado. "Any adult seeing her in that condition would know she needed immediate medical attention."