(Atlantic) The court heard from Alison Dorsey this morning.
Today (Tuesday), is day five of the State of Iowa vs Alison Dorsey trial. Dorsey has been charged with 1st Degree Murder and Child Endangerment for allegedly causing the death of an infant in her care in early October 2019.
Alison Dorsey said she opened her daycare in 2002 at her dad’s house in Massena. Alison said she has had around 120 kids in her care over the years and she has been very close with all of them. She said she started babysitting for the Hodges family in 2015. Alison stated that when Luka and his twin brother were born she was even asked to be their god parent and she was excited to start babysitting for them. October 7, 2019 was the first day Alison had them at her day care. Alison explained her daily routine with the children, the phone calls she had while taking care of the children that morning and the moment she noticed something wasn’t right with Luka’s breathing. Alison said she had put Luka in a Mamaroo because he was not interested in eating and went to the kitchen briefly to wash the baby bottles.
Alison said she walked around trying to burp Luka, but she was still concerned about his breathing so she called Luka’s father Nick since he was only a couple of blocks away. Alison said Nick walked up to the door a few minutes later and at the time Luka was still breathing, but he went limp in her arms when Nick opened the door. She said Nick took him, started chest compressions and told her to call 911, so she did.
Dorsey said after Luka left she had no idea what his condition was until she got a call from Luka’s mother when Luka got a heartbeat back and he was going to be life flighted to Children’s hospital. She said she never heard from Luka’s parents again after that.
Alison said she would never shake a child, hurt a child, and has never disciplined a child in any physical way.
Prosecuting Attorney Monty Platz questioned Alison Dorsey on why she left out details in her interview with the DCI agent about the number of kids in her care at the time; which was eleven according to Dorsey, and why she never mentioned Cynthia Gossman being at the daycare and holding Luka. Dorsey said she did not intentionally leave that information out and that there was a lot going through her head emotionally at the time.
Platz also questioned Dorsey on why she did not call 911 right away.
Dorsey said she had asked Nick to help get Luka calmed down and see if he would take a bottle since he had not eaten.
Platz asked Dorsey if she has any idea how Luka got his injuries in which she replied no. Platz asked Dorsey if she was the only adult in the home that day in which she replied yes, except for the parents who were dropping off their children.
(Dorsey’s reply to Platz was “That is not what I did, I would not do that, and yes I was the only one in the home”)
Following Alison Dorsey’s testimony, the defense rest their case and the Prosecution presented two rebuttal witnesses including Dr. Resmiye Oral, a Board Certified Pediatrician, who testified that Luka’s injuries would have been caused by shaking forces and impact and his symptoms would have shown up immediately to an hour before. The other rebuttal witness was Dr. Marco Hefti, a Neuropathologist from the University of Iowa, who testified that the concept of dating blood is not very well relied upon, contradicting what was presented by Defense Witness Pathologist Dr. Douglas Smith earlier in the trial.
Court resumed at 1:00 p.m. Prosecuting Attorney Monty Platz recalled Dr. Kelly Kruse from the State Medical Examiners Office to the stand. Her testimony lasted approximately 30-minutes. The court recessed at around 2:00 p.m. Testimony will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
