Witnesses paint grisly picture of scalded toddler

Monday, March 29, 1999 | 11:20 a.m.

A gruesome tale of a toddler scalded by water so hot it appeared as though she was "skinned alive" unfolded in North Las Vegas Justice Court.

Justice of the Peace Stephen Dahl, after listening to eight prosecution witnesses ranging from a 10-year-old to medical experts, on Friday ruled there is enough evidence for Shonea Greene, 20, to be bound over for trial on charges of first-degree murder by child abuse.

Greene, who remains in custody at the North Las Vegas Detention Center in connection with the Feb. 6 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Dezjanea Taylor, will appear 9 a.m. April 7 for initial arraignment in District Court.

During Friday's five-hour hearing, Clark County Deputy District Attorneys Doug Herndon and Vicki Monroe paraded a host of witnesses who painted a horrific picture of the last two days of Taylor's life.

On Feb. 4, Taylor was taken to University Medical Center with second- and third-degree burns on 50 to 60 percent of her body following a 4:30 p.m. incident at her North Las Vegas Housing Authority apartment on 1634 Stocker St., court records show.

The motive, prosecutors said, was to punish the potty-trained child who had regressed to defecating in her pants in the wake of the birth of her twin brothers.

Key testimony included:

* "From the waist down it (appeared) the child was skinned alive -- no flesh," North Las Vegas Police patrol officer Andrew Karas, who arrested Greene, said.

* "It was pretty obvious she (Taylor) was forced into the water -- obviously held in that position," said Dr. Meena Bohra, the pediatric critical care physician at UMC who tried to save the toddler's life. Bohra said the death was "non-accidental" and consistent with child abuse cases.

* "I would classify this as a homicidal death ... this was unnecessary," Dr. Sheldon Green, the longtime Clark County medical examiner, said.

* "She (Greene) was a little upset at her daughter and ordered the child into the tub," North Las Vegas Police Juvenile Detail Detective Deborah Anderson said, noting that several times Greene changed her original story that the child simply fell into the tub. Anderson tested the apartment's hot water and found it greater than 128 degrees.

* "I heard crying (from Greene's apartment next door)," said a 10-year-old C.P. Squires fourth-grader, who said she came home from school "at 3:36 p.m." that day.

However, one of the prosecution's eight witnesses, Monique Banks, sounded more like a defense witness. Banks was the first to arrive at the scene at the beckoning of her two grandchildren, who were with Greene when the incident occurred.

Banks, a neighbor of Greene's at the Rose Garden Apartments, testified under cross-examination from defense attorney Osvaldo "Ossie" Fumo that Greene was "a very good mother who goes out of her way for her kids."

Banks, who said she has known Greene since Greene was a child, arrived to find the baby wrapped in a towel on the floor and Greene crying and saying that she had to get her daughter to a hospital but feared she would be sent to jail.

Banks also testified that the public housing complex where they live had a history of problems with excessively hot water from the spigots and that just days after Taylor's death, work crews shut down the water and fixed the problem.

Fumo, who did not call any witnesses as is common for defense lawyers at preliminary hearings, put up an atypically vigorous defense for Justice Court hearings -- most of which wind up being bound over for trial.

"I wanted to show the DA it has conflicting statements in its case," Fumo said, noting that it could help with potential plea negotiations.

In sending the case to trial Dahl said Nevada law is clear: "Killing by child abuse is automatically first-degree murder."

He said that in many such cases, there is no intent to harm or kill a child, but the offender "loses temper and it goes too far. And they are horrified after."

After the hearing, Herndon said prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Greene's three other children, the eldest of whom is 3 1/2, have been made wards of the state and are being cared for by relatives.