KAILUA-KONA — The trial against a Big Island woman charged with murder in the 2017 death of a foster child she was caring for is being postponed for three weeks.
KAILUA-KONA — The trial against a Big Island woman charged with murder in the 2017 death of a foster child she was caring for is being postponed for three weeks.
Chasity Alcosiba-McKenzie opted to go to trial before a judge instead of a jury. She has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the death of 3-year-old Fabian Garett-Garcia.
Testimony was underway when Judge Wendy DeWeese postponed the trial until Sept. 1 to sort out a legal challenge involving evidence that led to ruling the boy’s death a homicide, West Hawaii Today reported Wednesday.
Deputy Public Defender James Greenberg objected during testimony of former Honolulu medical examiner Christopher Happy. Hawaii County’s medical examiner asked Happy to examine specimens from the child’s brain, spinal cord and eyes.
Greenberg objected after Happy said he sent one of the samples to a lab in Missouri. The defense wasn’t told the sample went to an out-of-state lab. The chain of custody hadn’t been established and there was no record of the lab’s accreditation, Greenberg said.
A 911 call on July 25, 2017 brought fire fighters to a Waimea home where the boy was found lifeless and lying face down beside a pool of his vomit on a bed.
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