Summer the most bruised child she’s seen, doctor says

In her four years of treating abused children at Chicago’s inner-city Cook County Hospital, a local pediatrician told a Spokane jury Monday that she’d never seen a child as bruised as 4-year-old Summer Phelps and has never heard of a child being shocked with a dog bark collar or dunked underwater as punishment.

“Would you classify her treatment as child abuse?” Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz asked Dr. Deborah J. Harper, of Spokane’s Riverfront Group Health.

“Yes,” Harper replied.

The homicide by abuse trial of Summer’s father, Jonathan Lytle, entered its second week of testimony Monday in the courtroom of Spokane Superior Court Judge Michael P. Price. Summer’s stepmother, Adriana Lytle, has already pleaded guilty to abusing the child, whose limp body was brought to a Spokane hospital on March 10, 2007.

Harper, who moved to Spokane in 1985, said she saw a lot of child abuse in Chicago and has consulted on more than 500 abuse cases overall. Harper was asked by Spokane Police Department investigators to review photographs of Summer at Deaconess Medical Center the night of her death. She wrote her report on March 29, 2007.

Children who are 4 or 5 often have bruises on their shins or foreheads, “but the number of bruises on this child is something I have never seen – even in hemophiliacs,” Harper told the jury.

An abused child like Summer would be likely to urinate during the day as well as at night because of stress, the doctor said.

“What type of exhaustion would a child experience if made to stand 9 1/2 hours with her legs straight” as she washed urine-soaked clothes? Steinmetz asked.

“I can’t imagine a child able to do that. … They’d collapse,” Harper replied.

In interviews with police detectives, Lytle said his wife had forced the child to wash her clothes starting at 12:30 p.m. on the day she died until after 10 p.m., when she was found under water in the bathtub. He also said he used a mop to force Summer up against the tall bathtub. Her pelvis was bruised from the pressure, the jury learned last week.

Also Monday, electronics expert Mark Gores testified about the dog bark collar that prosecutors say Summer was forced to wear to keep her from screaming. Burns were detected on Summer’s neck the night she died.

The shock device on the dog bark collar is triggered by vibrations. When the electric current was tested with an oscilloscope, it measured 2,698 volts – more than 20 times the electricity in a typical 120-volt home outlet, Gores said.

The device was also capable of arcing if there was a small air gap between any of the contact points, Gores added, showing the jury a photograph capturing the bright purple spots of the electrical arc.

“If this was placed against the neck of a child, could the two contact points cause an arcing or burn on human skin?” Steinmetz asked.

“Yes. … This would happen every time the collar was activated when it didn’t have perfect contact,” Gores said.

Although he didn’t directly test the heat generated by the arcing electricity, Gores said he read a research paper that said it was in the “tens of thousands of degrees” – four to five times hotter than the surface of the sun.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Edward Carroll, Gores was asked if the collar could kill a dog.

“No,” Gores replied. But if used on a person, the risks would be similar to using a Taser, Gores added.

“Most people who’ve been Tased have not died, but some have,” he said.

Summer’s death was caused by drowning and blood loss from the bruises, not by the dog bark collar, according to Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Sally Aiken. She is expected to testify Wednesday.

Forensic expert Matthew Gamette, of the Idaho State Police, said he was asked to examine evidence in Summer’s case in 2007 when he was working for the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab in Cheney.

DNA swabs were taken from three prongs on the dog collar used on Summer, Gamette said.

“All the profiles match each other and they match the DNA of Summer Phelps,” Gamette added.