By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
February 11, 2009 04:00 am NORWICH _ Shyanne Somers died within a few minutes of being run over by a three-quarter-ton pickup truck in July 2007, according to Dr. James Terzian, a pathologist based at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton. Terzian testified Tuesday at George Ford Jr.'s murder trial in Chenango County Court as the prosecution continued its case. Ford, 43, is accused of deliberately running down Shyanne, a 12-year-old South Otselic girl, who'd come to his house to baby-sit. When the truck ran over her on Will Warner Road, her skull and the base of her skull were broken, her sternum was crushed, and her liver was fractured, Terzian said in response to questions from Joseph McBride, Chenango County district attorney. The girl, who had just completed fifth grade at Otselic Valley Central School, also sustained injuries to her lungs, limbs and skin. ``How did she die?'' asked McBride. ``Mostly from crush injuries to her body and head,'' said Terzian, who conducted the autopsy on her body. Still, death was not instantaneous. ``She had stress hemorrhages in the heart, and those take a few minutes to develop,'' he said. As Terzian described the girl's injuries, McBride introduced photographs of her battered body into evidence. When McBride brought these graphic images to the defense table to show Ford's attorney, Randel Scharf of Cooperstown, Ford shut his eyes each time until the photograph was out of sight. Terzian said the fluid in Shyanne's eyes tested ``weakly positive for THC,'' the active ingredient in cannabis, although this finding was not confirmed by subsequent blood or urine tests. See SHYANNE on Page 10 Terzian estimated the girl's time of death as ``somewhere between midnight and 4 a.m.'' When cross-examined by Scharf, Terzian said he had found no sign of sexual activity in his examination of the girl's body. ``Her hymen was intact?' asked Scharf. ``Correct,'' Terzian said. ``There was no evidence of trauma from sexual activity?'' ``Correct.'' ``And the death certificate does not say homicide,'' Scharf said. ``Correct,'' Terzian said. Forensic scientist testifies to DNA found Another witness, Urfan Mukhtar, forensic scientist at the New York State Police Forensic Laboratory, said he detected DNA from Ford, Shyanne and an unidentified female in a ``semen-stained cutting'' taken from Ford's pants. No sperm were detected, although sometimes a very small number will go undetected, he said. In response to a question from McBride, Mukhtar said the girl's DNA could have come from her blood after she died, as Ford drove her body to Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich. Among other witnesses testifying Tuesday was Chenango County Sheriff Thomas Loughren, who interviewed Ford on July 8, 2007, the day he was arrested. Loughren said Ford had told his officers that he accidentally run over the girl at about midnight but had not driven her to the hospital for hours. ``I couldn't understand that,'' said the sheriff. ``I asked him, `Why didn't you stop and call for help?' If you were lost, why didn't you go home?''' Ford told him he was shocked, confused, and unable to function, according to Loughren. ``He kept saying, `What am I going to tell her parents?''' the sheriff said. Under cross-examination, Loughren said he hadn't taken notes of his interview or recorded it electronically because the sheriff's office audio-visual equipment was not working. State Police Investigator Aaron Lewis, a collision expert, said he believed Ford's truck was traveling downhill, or west, when it struck Shyanne, a finding that agrees with GPS evidence presented in the case. Police have said Ford told them he was driving the girl up Will Warner Road, or east, at the time he ran over her. Soon after Shyanne died, Ford was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment. Only after police learned that his truck was equipped with GPS and that its log contradicted Ford's account of driving the girl home was he charged with murder, police have said. McBride said he plans to complete his case today. Scharf said he will be ready to call witnesses this afternoon. Among those on his witness list is an accident reconstructionist, he has said. Shyanne's parents, James and Kathryn Somers, have been at the courthouse for this trial, but since the first day they have not been allowed inside the courtroom because Scharf has said he may call on them to testify. James Somers testified on the trial's first day. Shyanne's brother, an uncle, other relatives and friends, and groups of students from local schools have attended the trial. If convicted, Ford faces a maximum sentence of 25-years-to-life in prison.
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Photos
From left, defense attorney Randel Scharf, Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride, back to camera, Broome County Judge Joseph F. Cawley and Stephen Moehling of Land Air Sea Systems confer during Moehling-s testimony Monday at Chenango County Court in Norwich.