A pediatric orthopedist testified Tuesday morning that when he saw 2-year-old Laila Daniel’s broken leg, he told her foster mother to take her immediately to the emergency room.
The doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston were ready to treat Laila, Dr. Shawn Duxbury told the Henry County courtroom. But Jennifer Rosenbaum never arrived with her foster child, Duxbury said.
“If your child has a broken leg or injury, isn’t using the leg, you would expect you would take them to a provider quickly,” Duxbury testified.
Testimony continued Tuesday in the trial for Rosenbaum and her husband Joseph, both accused in Laila’s November 2015 death. The Rosenbaums took in Laila and her older sister, Millie, in July 2015.
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In an October 2015 visit, Rosenbaum said Laila had fallen in a hole in her great-grandmother’s backyard days earlier and then injured herself again at a gymnastics facility the following day, Duxbury testified.
But the office manager and owner of the gymnastics facility testified later in the day that Laila was never enrolled in classes there. Her older sister was temporarily enrolled. Millie’s gymnastics coach testified Tuesday afternoon that at one class, Millie had a very large bruise on her face.
"I fell getting out of the bathtub," Millie said, according to her coach.
Duxbury told the court that he noticed several red flags, he said. Laila’s complete tibia fracture on her right leg was not typical for a 2-year-old, Duxbury said, and likely wasn’t caused the way Rosenbaum described. It was the type of broken bone that a doctor would see from blunt force trauma, Duxbury said.
Days later, Rosenbaum took Laila to another medical practice, who placed a cast on the child’s leg. A physician’s assistant, Charles Coppinger, noticed there were additional bruises on Laila’s leg when he re-checked her cast days later, he testified.
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On Nov. 17, 2015, Jennifer Rosenbaum called 911 to report that Laila choked while eating a chicken nugget. Rosenbaum said she used the Heimlich maneuver and then CPR on Laila, who later died.
But the injuries on Laila’s body told a different story, according to investigators. Paramedics noted bruising all over Laila’s body. An autopsy revealed the child suffered a blow to her abdomen that ruptured her pancreas. She also had other internal injuries and broken bones suffered over time, according to GBI medical examiners. There was no evidence she had choked, the autopsy revealed.
Two weeks after Laila’s death, the Rosenbaums were arrested and charged.
Jennifer Rosenbaum faces malice and felony murder charges, as well as child cruelty, aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges. Joseph Rosenbaum is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly leaving Laila in his wife’s care when he knew she was abusing the child.
Late Tuesday afternoon, a former case worker, Samantha White, took the stand. White and her former supervisor were both fired from their jobs with the Henry Department of Family and Children Services for policy violations in December 2015. White will return to the stand when the trial continues Wednesday morning.
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