Attorney tells jurors Bellingham father didn’t starve his 3-month-old son to death
A defense attorney for a Bellingham man accused of neglecting his infant son until he starved to death more than five years ago argued Tuesday in court that they don’t know how the baby died, but that it was not the father’s actions that resulted in the child’s death.
Opening statements began early June 29 in Whatcom County Superior Court in the jury trial for 28-year-old Cody James Shields. Shields is accused of second-degree manslaughter in the Dec. 8, 2015 death of his 3-month-old son, Lucian Mykael Shields.
Lucian’s mother, Brittany Shane Daniels, 27, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison in January 2020 for her son’s death. Daniels pleaded guilty in November 2019 to one count of second-degree manslaughter.
Daniels was given an agreed-upon exceptional sentence below the standard range in part for expected testimony against Shields at his trial.
Whatcom County Medical Examiner Dr. Gary Goldfogel, who is also expected to testify in Shields’ trial, determined after an autopsy that Lucian had no fat on his body and that it looked like he had very little to eat for days, court records state. Goldfogel ruled that there was nothing else obviously wrong with Lucian that could have caused his death “beyond malnutrition, absence of feeding for a prolonged interval, and gross neglect,” court records show.
Lucian’s manner of death was listed as homicide and his cause of death was listed as undetermined, the records state. Lucian’s weight was 9 pounds and 7 ounces at death. He had gained about 17 ounces since birth, court records show.
Most babies gain about an ounce of weight daily during the first three months of life, according to kidshealth.org.
But Shields’ defense attorney, Carl Munson Jr., said medical professionals in the case will testify that babies lose weight after they’re born, that Lucian lost weight after he was born, but that he was gaining weight before his death — just not as much as they expected him to. Munson said the main question in the case that is before the jurors is why wasn’t Lucian gaining weight? If Lucian was malnourished and dehydrated, the jurors will have to decide whether it was due to neglect or due to “some other undetected metabolic disorder that was keeping him from absorbing the nutrients, such as diabetes,” Munson said during opening statements.
Munson argued that while there will be some “unfortunate and unflattering and simply bad facts that reflect poorly” on Shields, the evidence presented will show that Lucian was fed sufficiently and that Shields’ actions do not amount to manslaughter.
“The question in this case is not whether (Shields) is a good or a bad person or parent, it’s not whether you like him or not or whether you agree with his and (Daniels’) parenting decisions and styles and how they chose to do things,” Munson said. “The question is going to be whether or not (Shields) committed negligent acts which caused Lucian’s passing. … I submit to you that he is not guilty of the offense.”
Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Richey argued Tuesday that Shields’ actions amounted to negligence that resulted in Lucian’s death.
At the time of Lucian’s death, Daniels was back at work and had left the baby in Shields’ care, according to previous reporting in The Herald.
On the night before Lucian’s death, Daniels had asked Shields to feed their son around midnight because he hadn’t eaten much the last time and she was concerned, but Shields didn’t end up feeding him, Richey said during his opening statements.
Instead, Shields stayed up most of the night playing video games because he couldn’t sleep. Shields fell asleep around 7 a.m. on Dec. 8, 2015, and woke up around 2 p.m. He didn’t check on the baby until around 5 p.m. that evening and found the baby unresponsive, Richey said and court records state.
Richey said Goldfogel, who performed the autopsy, will testify that it was “remarkable” how thin Lucian was and that there was no food in the baby’s system. Richey said that a factor in Lucian’s death was not only when he was fed or how much, but how the infant was fed.
Both Shields and Daniels used a method they called bottle propping, where they would use a blanket and form it into a brace to prop the child’s 6-ounce bottle of formula upright so that Lucian could suck from it, Richey said, allowing Shields to leave the room. Richey said Tuesday that Shields was aware that bottle propping didn’t always work.
“It should be clear to you that Lucian received some food. He received food to grow, but he did not receive enough food to live,” Richey said. “Lucian didn’t die in one day from malnutrition, but the way he was treated on the 7th and 8th of December 2015 may have pushed him too far. … During Lucian’s life, (Shields) engaged in criminal negligence and that Lucian died as a result of the defendant’s criminal negligence.”
Testimony from the prosecution’s witnesses also began Tuesday and is expected to continue Wednesday, June 30.
This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
