If you're like many other readers who have been following our series of stories on the Nowatney family over the past few weeks, you're probably outraged. But some of those who have called us about the series have criticized us for not covering the other side of the story— State Attorney Kirk Zuelch's case against the Nowatney's.
"Surely they have some persuasive evidence," callers said, "or else they wouldn't be doing this to that young couple. Right?"
Wrong. This week, we were able to obtain, from the Nowatney family, copies of the depositions of the state's three top medical witnesses. We read those depositions from cover to cover and then we read them again, unbelieving of what we had seen the first time.
The state has nothing! Zilch. Zip. The state does not have a single witness who will be able to say, conclusively, that there was any child abuse or neglect at all. Yet they're going to put this couple on trial Monday!
Read on for more details. But first, for readers who may have been on vacation, here's a summary of what's happened to date:
Last September 3, ten-month-old Nathan was home alone with his father, Army Sgt. Nick Nowatney. Nick is a medic with an elite Special Forces unit assigned to the Key West Naval Air Station (NASKW).
Nathan fell off the couch and broke his arm. At the hospital, he was treated and sent home. Attending physicians say they saw nothing unusual. A common childhood accident. There was certainly no evidence of child abuse, they say.
But another doctor who saw the x-ray of Nathan's arm spotted what looked like a previous "greenstick" fracture that was healing. That fracture had neither been reported nor treated. And the Nowatneys had no explanation for it.
By law, that unreported injury had to be reported to the Child Abuse Hotline— and an incredible series of events was set in motion. If you're reading this as a parent, you may be shocked— and perhaps somewhat terrified— at the power that the small group of bureaucrats in the local State Dept. of Children & Family Services (DCF) office are able to wield. This is a story about government out of control.
DCF officials petitioned Judge Sandra Taylor to allow them to go to the Nowatney home and take away both kids. They told the judge that Natalie Nowatney, 3, had also suffered a broken arm a few months earlier while home alone with her mother, Carrie. Therefore, the DCF attorney argued, both parents might be child abusers.
Judge Taylor went along with the DCF— even though Nathan was still breastfeeding! And even though there were witnesses outside her chambers prepared to challenge the DCF's charge of suspected child abuse! Those witnesses were not heard.
Over the next five months, the children were shuttled between three different foster homes up and down the Keys. But the Nowatneys could have gotten their kids back at anytime, DCF officials now say.
"All we had to do was plead guilty and allow state case workers to come into our home anytime they wanted to for months or even years," Nick said. "But we couldn't plead guilty— because we didn't do anything wrong."
So the DCF refused to return the children!
But on Oct. 28, Dr. Walter Lambert, the head of the state's Child Protection Team in Dade and Monroe Counties, told DCF officials that, in his opinion, Natalie's broken arm was accidental, effectively eliminating Carrie as a "suspect."
"At that point, they should have returned the children to our home," Nick said. "If I was still a `suspect,' I would have moved to the barracks. I wouldn't have been thrilled about that, but at least our children would have been with their mother in a familiar environment, rather than forced to live with strangers."
Meanwhile:
Both the Army and the Navy conducted separate investigations. No evidence of child abuse or neglect found. Both investigations have been closed.
• Full body x-rays of both children revealed no evidence of child abuse.
• Both parents voluntarily sat for polygraph examinations. No deception shown. Innocence indicated.
• None of the attending physicians of the Nowatney children saw any evidence of child abuse.
Last November, the Nowatneys asked local DCF officials to take the necessary steps to qualify Carrie's sister, who lives in their hometown of Emden, Ill., as a foster parent so the kids might at least live with relatives, rather than strangers.
It took the DCF here two months to even send the paperwork to Illinois! But finally, last month, Judge Mark Jones signed an order allowing the children to live in Emden until the trial. Carrie stayed with her parents there so she could be with her children during the day.
Nick remained on duty here at NASKW.
"When the kids were finally turned over to Carrie's relatives, Nathan had a diaper rash so serious that it was blistering and being treated with prescription medicine," Nick said. "Diaper rash is caused by neglect. Our son was neglected in foster care under state supervision."
This week, Judge Jones ruled that the kids could come back to Key West and live at home with both parents— with no in-home supervision.
"Why couldn't they have returned our children back in September?" Nick asked. "Why did they insist on keeping them in foster homes for more than six months?! Think about it. Nothing has changed since Sept. 3— except, I believe, that the DCF people now know they made a mistake. They now know that they don't' have a case. And they now know that they can't bully us into pleading guilty to something we didn't do."
At press time, the trial was still set to start this Monday, March 27.
The state's top medical experts are:
• Dr. Walter Lambert, the University of Miami Dept. of Pediatrics and the Medical Director of the DCF's Child Protection Team for Dade and Monroe Counties.
• Dr. George Sfakianakis, University of Miami, Dept. of Radiology and Director of Nuclear Medicine.
• Dr. Amal Jabra, who is on the faculty of the University of Miami School of Medicine. Her specialty is radiology.
Almost all of the testimony of these witnesses is expected to deal with the nature of the arm fractures suffered by the Nowatney children— but none of them are expected to be able to testify that what they saw on the x-rays was the result of child abuse.
For example, under direct questioning during her deposition, Dr. Jabra said, "I don't know whether it's child abuse . . . I don't know." She said her job was simply to look at x-rays, identify areas of trauma, then try to determine if there is anything there that raises a doubt that the injuries were not accidental.
Dr. Sfakianakis, in his deposition, did not offer any opinion at all as to whether the fractures he saw on the x-rays might be the result of child abuse.
Dr. Lambert made the strongest statement in any of the depositions— although it was he who advised the DCF as early as October, 1999 that Natalie's broken arm was accidental.
"It is my medical opinion," Lambert said, concerning Nathan, "that the presence of two different fractures in a 10-month-old child . . . represents inflicted injury."
During his deposition, however, Dr. Lambert revealed that his board certification had expired.
Dr. Lambert also admitted that he never interviewed the parents. But that was because the DCF refused to allow them to accompany their children to see Dr. Lambert.
Dr. Harry Smith of the Biodynamic Research Corp. in San Antonio, one of the Nowatney's expert witnesses, scoffs at Dr. Lamber's conclusion.
"While forearm fractures are not unusual in children, they are unusual in child abuse cases," he said.
Both of the Nowatney children suffered forearm fractures consistent with falls— common childhood accidents.
"Fracture locations that would raise suspicions for child abuse would be the ribs, spine, collarbone and bones in the shoulder."
And since neither child showed fractures in any of the "classical" locations, "the probability of child abuse is low to a degree of radiological certainty," Dr. Smith concluded.
Here's another opinion from Dr. Thomas McNish, the principal consultant at Biodynamic Research, also a defense witness:
"Based on reasonable medical and biomechanical certainty, Nathan Nowatney's proximal left radius fracture more likely than not occurred accidentally during the fall from the sofa, as described by his father," he said.
Dr. McNish further concluded: "The attempt to associate the accidental forearm fracture of Nathan's older sister— which occurred several months previously and while under the care of an entirely different member of the parenting team— with Nathan's injuries to postulate some pattern of abuse, fails the tests of reason and credibility."
Dr. McNish was also critical of the DCF: " . . . the initial appropriate concern for the possibility of child abuse . . . quickly gave way to an overly aggressive effort to prove the suspicions true, without
attending to the lack of supporting evidence."
On Wednesday, Judge Jones again asked both sides to try to reach an agreement to avoid what promises to be a long, costly trial.
"That should be easy to do," said Nick Nowatney. "They can simply drop the charges against us. They know they don't have a case— because we're not guilty. What can they possibly hope to accomplish by going ahead with this trial?"
That's what we've been wondering for weeks. What could State Attorney Kirk Zuelch be thinking? He's up for reelection this year. And we hear that he will have at least one opponent. We think, however, that the Nowatney case has already ended Zuelch's career.
Who are the criminals in the Nowatney case? You be the judge.