Defendant says he was trying to help, not harm his baby

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By Brandon Herring - bio | email

CONWAY, SC (WMBF) - The man accused of killing his five-week-old daughter took the stand in his trial Tuesday.

Miles Ferguson, 27, of Portsmouth, OH, is charged with homicide by child abuse in connection to the death of his daughter Mylee. The extended Ferguson family was on vacation in the Myrtle Beach area on July 29, 2007 when the baby stopped breathing. Mylee was rushed to the hospital and then taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where she died on August 2.

Doctors at MUSC noticed injuries they said were signs of shaken baby syndrome. Ferguson was later arrested and charged with Mylee's death.

Tuesday Ferguson testified about what he said happened.

"Did you look forward to the baby's birth with anticipation Miles?" defense attorney Morgan Martin asked Ferguson.

"Yes, very much so," Ferguson responded as he started crying.

"Do you remember when she was born?"

"Yes," Ferguson sobbed.

Morgan's questions about the birth of Mylee were attempts to convince the jury that Ferguson would have never done anything to hurt his daughter.

Ferguson has said Mylee started having trouble breathing while he was preparing to change her diaper on July 29, 2007. He repeated the story for the jury Tuesday saying he thought Mylee was choking, so he patted her on the back, held her up and lightly shook her, and then tried blowing air into her mouth.

"I pulled her off of me and I began to yell 'Mylee, Mylee'" Ferguson said.

"Was there ever any thought in your mind of anger?" Martin asked.

"No," Ferguson replied. "I was trying to get my baby to breath. There was no anger at all in me."

Ferguson said the shaking was not violent. He told the jury it was so mild and brief he didn't even think about it until Mylee was at MUSC. Once hospital workers began to ask questions about if Mylee had been shaken, Ferguson said he began to second-guess himself.

During cross-examination, Assistant Solicitor Candice Lively implied that the shaking was more severe than Ferguson said. She also pointed out that Ferguson didn't tell anyone about the shaking until two days later during a statement to police.

Ferguson said while he may not have explicitly said he shook his daughter, he did demonstrate his actions for medical workers several times.

"You're saying you demonstrated," Lively said to Ferguson. "I'm just talking about what you told them, okay?"

"I did not use the word 'shake' with Grand Strand Hospital," Ferguson replied.

The defense also called character witnesses on Ferguson's behalf Tuesday. Any more defense witnesses called Wednesday will likely be followed by closing arguments.

Previously during the trial medical experts for the defense said Mylee's death was likely caused by an internal head injury at birth, which started bleeding again five weeks later because of an infection in Mylee's brain.

Doctors who examined Mylee at MUSC have testified on behalf of the prosecution, saying they believe Mylee's injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

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