Doctor In Gigi Jordan Trial: Boy Didn't Appear To Fear Allegedly Abusive Dad
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A defense witness in the trial of a former pharmaceutical millionaire accused of killing her autistic son proved to be more valuable to the prosecution Monday.
Gigi Jordan is on trial, accused of killing 8-year-old Jude Mirra with a mixture of prescription drugs in February 2010 at the Peninsula Hotel in Midtown.
Jordan has claimed that sexual abuse drove the boy into his shell and made him appear to be autistic.
But Dr. Maurine Packard, a neurologist who diagnosed the boy's autism, testified that from what she observed, the father and son had a normal relationship, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported. Packard said she saw the father chasing Jude, the little boy shrieking with laughter. Packard said she never detected any evidence of sexual abuse or that the boy feared or hated his father.
Jordan testified earlier in the trial that Jude, at age 6, typed on a BlackBerry graphic descriptions of torture and sexual abuse by his father, writing things such as, "I want God to aggressively punish him." Packard, however, testified that the severely autistic child could only identify a few simple words, such as "car" and "cat."
The defendant also told the jury that Jude typed a message saying he wanted to die.
Jordan admitted on the witness stand that she gave her son a fatal dose of drugs. But she denied the scenario prosecutors have painted: that she climbed on top of the comatose boy, forcibly opened his mouth and shoved a lethal dose of prescription medication down his throat with a syringe.
Prosecutors said Jordan brought 5,918 pills to the hotel with her. She then used a pill crusher, orange juice and possibly vodka to make a poisonous cocktail that she forced into her son's mouth using a syringe, according to prosecutors.
Last month, Dr. Edward Barbieri, a forensic pharmacologist, told jurors he found extremely high levels of Xanax in the child's blood — 19 times what an adult would take. Barbieri said Jude also was fed a lot of Prozac and another sedative that reduces blood pressure, which was given to him at a deadly level of 20 to 40 times that of an adult dosage.
Jordan's lawyers say she was convinced her mob-connected ex-husband was going to kill her, leaving the child's biological father – who she claims sexually abused the boy — to care for him. In her mind, her son would be better off dead, the lawyer said.
The father denies the allegations and has never been charged. Her ex-husband has denied all her allegations and has sued her for slander.
Prosecutors say that whatever her worries, they didn't justify killing the boy.
"The only person he ever needed protection from was the one person he should have been able to rely on the most," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bodganos said in an opening statement last month.
Trained as a nurse, Jordan went on to launch companies that administer drugs to patients in their home. After making an estimated $40 million, she left her career to travel the country seeking medical answers for her son, who didn't speak, writhed in pain and screamed.
He was initially considered autistic, though doctors later diagnosed immune-system abnormalities, post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems, according to her court filings. Jordan said Wednesday that Jude wasn't autistic, but was severely traumatized by being sexually abused.
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