True Stories of Law & Order by Kevin Dwyer

Author:Kevin Dwyer [Dwyer, Kevin and Fiorillo, Juré]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101217931
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2006-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

Candace Newmaker with her beloved dogs soon after being adopted by Jeane Newmaker. The ten-year-old was smothered by two therapists and their assistants during a “rebirthing” session on April 18, 2001. Rocky Mountain News/Polaris

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Then the defense lawyers proceeded to blame everyone except their clients for Candace’s death. Because her little brother was known to have a heart condition, Candace likely had one, too, defense lawyers claimed, which was really the cause of death, not asphyxia. They dismissed the autopsy report as inaccurate. It hadn’t been performed by a forensic pathologist. So now, the real answer could never be known. And while they were on the subject of hearts, why not talk about Candace’s birth parents, who had given their daughter away? Watkins’s lawyer, Greg Lawler, switched from a medical argument to a metaphorical one: “They stole her heart,” he dramatically proclaimed. And, anyway, what was the psychiatrist thinking when he increased Candace’s antipsychotic meds … right before the rebirthing? That couldn’t have helped her heart. And let’s not forget, Candace was being rebirthed at the Evergreen facility in Colorado—over 7,000 feet above sea level. Not good. Someone should have thought of that. (Apparently, though, not Watkins and Ponder.)

Blame-the-victim-and-everyone-else-she-knew was the only viable strategy, and it didn’t work. One serious problem was Watkins and Ponder themselves. When they took the stand, the therapists dug their heels in. They came across as cold and unfeeling, refusing to take responsibility for their actions. Watkins described her brand of therapy as necessary in Candace’s case—which meant that she personally had to admit to meting out brutal treatment. She seemed confused and nervous, but always defiant about any claims that she did anything wrong.

Ponder, too, showed no remorse. For five hours on the stand, she was forced to relive the details of Candace’s death, and to defend the procedure of rebirthing. She said that she had been rebirthed a few times in the past and that it was a wonderful experience. “It felt like being held, if you can imagine being held by a group of people who love and care about you,” she said.11

Ponder insisted that Candace could breathe through the flannel sheet. “The whole thing is an air-hole,” she said. “It’s not like wrapping someone in plastic.” When pressed by the prosecution to explain why she believed Candace was grunting as if really trying to push her way out of the simulated womb, Ponder responded, “At times, I think they were manipulative.”12 (This was a vastly different Julie Ponder than the distraught one who said, “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault,” when she realized Candace had died.)

The situation was a catch-22 for the defense. The therapists couldn’t be apologetic when their entire defense was based on the claim that they simply weren’t responsible; yet, by insisting they had done nothing wrong, they came across as cold-hearted.

The defense tried valiantly to plant the seed of doubt, but once the jury saw the video, all bets were off. As the video of

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