Wood Facing Retrial In 1990 Death Of 2-Year-Old Fernwood Man’s Sentence Overturned Because Of Testimony In Original Trial

All the evidence wasn’t in when Jehn C. Wood was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fatally injuring his girlfriend’s child, Wood’s attorney told a jury Tuesday.

The child, Tasha Almandinger, died on Nov. 17, 1990, a day after the injury was allegedly inflicted, and a day after her second birthday.

Wood has since married Tasha’s mother, Pamela, who maintains his innocence. They have two children, both born since Tasha’s death.

The Fernwood man’s 1993 sentence was overturned last year when the Idaho Court of Appeals ruled that some of the testimony in the original trial should not have been allowed.

The court held that Tasha’s mother and her mother’s co-worker should not have been allowed to testify about Wood’s temper and alleged violent behavior. The judges said the testimony unfairly prejudiced the jury and remanded the case to District Court.

Wood, now 34, was charged again with injury to a child last March. He pleaded not guilty.

First District Judge Craig Kosonen, who set the original sentence, is presiding at the retrial. Defense attorney James Siebe, Wood’s original attorney, is also back for round two.

The one new player, Benewah County Prosecutor Richard Christensen, presented the same opening argument that his predecessor used to convince the first jury: Medical experts contend that the injury to the girl’s brain could only have been caused by a blow from a blunt instrument.

He said jurors would be shown pictures to prove it.

“I won’t stand here and tell you I know exactly how he struck the child. But she could not have sustained these injuries on her own,” Christensen said.

After Tasha’s death, two of her baby sitters claimed to have seen signs of abuse and neglect - bruises, ravenous hunger and regular need for a bath and fresh clothes. They said Tasha’s mother appeared to be afraid to leave the girl alone with Wood.

But Wood’s Moscow attorney painted a different picture of the man.

According to Siebe, Wood was on the phone for a short time after Tasha’s mother left the house to pick up a cake decorating tool for the child’s birthday cake.

“When he got off the line, he saw Tasha on the floor with her hands above her head, making motions in an unnatural position. She wasn’t breathing.”

Seizing the child, Wood ran out to his truck and raced to the store to find her mother, Siebe said. Together they managed to intercept an ambulance, which took them to the hospital in St. Maries. From there Tasha was flown to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

Siebe claimed that the fatal brain damage could well have been caused when Wood - or even an ambulance technician - shook the child in an attempt to revive her. He said a witness had seen Tasha cough up a whole grape outside the emergency room, a fact not reflected in the autopsy report.

Siebe promised to bring in a medical examiner from Fulton County, Ga., who would testify that the child’s death could have been the result of asphyxiation, combined with shaking in resuscitation attempts.

Shaken baby syndrome has become increasingly accepted in the medical field as a possible cause of brain damage, Siebe said. “Brain swelling can come from shaking babies.”

Siebe said Wood is a man dealing with a double tragedy. “He not only lost a child, but he could potentially be convicted when he’s an innocent man.”