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Woman charged in son’s death is found not guilty
By Justin Goble
Exactly one year after her son was found dead in her car, an Asheville woman was acquitted of murder and abuse.
After four hours, jurors found Michelle Gibson not guilty on all counts.
The courtroom erupted with applause from Gibson’s family and local supporters after the verdict was read Monday afternoon (May 22).
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Michelle Gibson, right, swears to tell the truth before her testimony last Thursday (May 18) while court reporter Shari Young, left, listens. Gibson was found not guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse charges Monday afternoon (May 22). Gibson was charged in connection with the death of her son, Devin, who died of hyperthermia on May 22, 2005, after being left in the trunk of a 1990 Ford Escort while his mother worked a 16-hour double shift at Mountain Trace Nursing Center. Jurors deliberated for four hours before returning the verdict. Throughout the trial, Gibson’s attorney, Randy Seago of Sylva, argued that Gibson’s actions were not done in malice, which made her innocent of the murder charge, though she did admit to the crime of manslaughter. Though they were given the option of convicting her of the manslaughter charge, jurors chose not to do so. – Herald photo by Justin Goble
Prosecutors charged Gibson with second-degree murder and felony child abuse after her 8-year-old son Devin died on May 22, 2005.
Devin died when he was left in his mother’s 1990 Ford Escort while she worked a 16-hour double shift at Mountain Trace Nursing Center. Gibson admitted to leaving the boy in the car while she worked the day before as well.
According to the autopsy report, Devin died of hyperthermia (heat exhaustion), which was caused by being confined to the car on a hot day.
Assistant District Attorney Roy Wijewickrama argued throughout the trial that Gibson’s actions were a clear danger to her child’s life, and thus fit with state guidelines for the murder charge. He also contended Gibson had other child care options, and there was no reason for her to have kept Devin in the car for the weekend.
Defense attorney Randy Seago countered, saying that the second-degree murder charge was unwarranted, because Gibson’s actions were not done with malice. He told the jury several times that Gibson had admitted to involuntary manslaughter, and understood leaving Devin in the car led to his death.
Seago also said that Gibson was hesitant to leave her child with roommates, and was unaware that she was able to bring her child in to Mountain Trace with her.
Though Superior Court Judge Zoro Guice gave jurors the option of convicting Gibson of the manslaughter charge, they chose not to.
Wijewickrama presented testimony Wednesday (May 17) from Gibson’s former roomates, Michelle Birchfield and Nathan Wyatt. Both witnesses said they had taken care of Devin while Gibson had worked before, and were able to do so the weekend he died.
Birchfield told jurors that she and Gibson had a falling out a week before Devin’s death, but that did not stop her from babysitting him.
The alleged dispute arose after Wyatt took some money from Birchfield, who was his girlfriend at the time. Gibson and Birchfield disagreed on how the situation was to be handled.
Wyatt took the stand later in the day and testified that he had offered to take care of Devin while Gibson was at work that weekend.
“I didn’t have any work for the weekend,” Wyatt said. “I planned to go play basketball with Birchfield’s son, Sean, on Saturday (May 21) and spend the whole time with him. Devin asked me if he could come play basketball too. He and Sean were best friends.”
When he made the offer to Gibson, Wyatt said he was told he “wasn’t needed.”
“We were told she (Gibson) had a friend in Waynesville named Jerri,” Wyatt said. “She said she was going to drop Devin off there on her way to work.”
Wijewickrama also called Detective Patrick McCoy of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, who took part in the search of Gibson’s car. McCoy said Gibson had told him she placed Devin in the trunk, but the back seats were not latched and he had access to the passenger areas of the car. However, when he searched the car, the back seat had been latched and he found no way to push it down from the trunk.
“I tried pushing it as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get the seat to go down,” he said.
McCoy also said investigators had found two of Devin’s T-shirts, which he described as “drenched” from sweat.
Under cross examination from Seago, McCoy said investigators suspected Devin had been sedated or restrained, but found no evidence when the car was searched. McCoy also said he thought Devin’s toys and other belongings had been found in the passenger areas.
Dr. Richard Jason, who conducted the autopsy on Devin’s body, testified that he found small hemorrhages around the heart and the lungs during his examination. He told the jury these are usually found when a victim dies from hyperthermia.
When asked by Seago if there was any evidence Devin had been sedated by his mother, Jason said the only drugs found in the toxicology report was a trace amount of Ritalin, which was used to treat the boy’s attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Though numerous witnesses were called for the prosecution, most admitted that Gibson had a very loving and caring relationship with her son. Only Paula Brandt, a former friend of Gibson’s, testified to any prior instances of child abuse.
Brandt told the jury that she had seen Gibson drag Devin by the hair across a room on one occasion. She also described another incident where she found a broken broom handle in Gibson’s apartment. When asked how the handle had gotten that way, Bradt said Gibson told her she “broke it over Devin’s body.”
During cross examination, Brandt admitted she did not call police after both incidents because she wanted to talk to Gibson about them before going to the authorities. She did contact the Department of Social Services after Gibson had sent Devin to a house Brandt described as “nasty” while she was at work.
Brandt also admitted to contacting the press after Gibson was initially arrested, but claimed that was a last-ditch effort to shed light on how bad she thought Devin had been treated.
“I called DSS and asked them why they didn’t do an investigation,” Bradt said. “They wouldn’t talk to me. The social worker told me that if I didn’t like it, I could go to the press.”
After the prosecution rested, Seago argued that Gibson was a loving mother who was put into a desperate situation because of unstable child care and a difficult job situation. He called 14 character witnesses, each of whom said they observed a deep, caring relationship between Devin and his mother.
Maj. James Hipps of the Salvation Army said he had many interactions with Gibson and her son while they stayed at the Salvation Army’s group home in Asheville.
“I never saw her lay a hand on Devin,” he said. “I never saw her hit him, I never saw her make a bad remark to him, and I never saw her scold him. But she did correct him.
“Devin loved his mother,” Hipps said. “I believe she loved Devin with all of her heart.”
Gibson’s cousin, Arlissa Bostic, testified the two had spent most of their childhood together, and that Michelle had always been a kind person.
“Ever since we were kids, Michelle was very caring,” she said. “She’s always had a big heart.”
Bostic also told the jury Gibson suffered from learning disabilities, which hindered her ability with math and other subjects.
“Michelle was always in slow-learning classes,” Bostic said. “She struggled a lot more in school than I did. She was in slow-learning disability classes until she graduated.”
Gibson herself took the stand Thursday afternoon. During her tearful testimony, she told jurors Devin was uncomfortable staying with Birchfield and Wyatt, and his reluctance caused her some concern.
“Devin had stayed with Michelle Birchfield before,” Gibson said. “But he was very uneasy to this time. I kept asking him what was wrong and told him that Michelle and Nathan had been good to him. Devin said, ‘I don’t want to stay with Michelle. Michelle has a tendency to be mean to me. She has a tendency to make me not feel like I am not a part of the family. She says things that really hurt my feelings.’”
Gibson said she spent most of the Friday night trying to find a babysitter, but was unable to do so. Eventually, she said she thought about calling the STAT Nursing Agency, where she worked as a contracted certified nursing assistant, to tell them she would not be able to work that weekend.
She testified that she decided Saturday morning to go into work that weekend because she had made the commitment to do so, and backing out would be cause for her to get written up by her superiors or fired.
Gibson also said she wanted to go into work so she could earn enough money to throw her son a birthday party.
Throughout her testimony, Gibson was adamant in stating she didn’t lock Devin in the trunk of the car as prosecutors argued.
“That would take a monster,” she said. “I wouldn’t even do that to an animal. I loved my son dearly. Devin was my world. When I found him, I can’t explain what it felt like. As God as my witness, I thought my child was sleeping the whole time. I didn’t make him stay in the trunk. I knew it was a wrong decision, but the situation between Michelle and me made me very concerned. I still can’t imagine my baby being gone. I still can’t imagine going to his grave.”
Gibson also told jurors that she was uncomfortable leaving Devin in the car, but she constantly checked on him and he seemed fine until Sunday afternoon, when he complained of being hot. Though it was a muggy day, Gibson said she did not realize it was hot enough for her son to get heat exhaustion.
During cross examination from Wijewickrama, Gibson said that leaving Devin with Birchfield and Wyatt during the weekend was not an option, since Birchfield had said neither of them would be able to take care of Devin. She also testified that Wyatt had not offered to babysit her son, as he had told the jury earlier.
Gibson also said it had “never crossed her mind” to take Devin into Mountain Trace, since that was the first weekend she had worked there and she did not know if she was allowed to do so.
The assistant district attorney took Gibson to task on her testimony that Devin was never locked in the trunk. When asked where the boy was during the commute from Asheville to Mountain Trace, Gibson said he was on “the backseat of the trunk,” which she described as the part of the car where the backseat folds down and allows access to the trunk.
“I don’t consider that the trunk,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t.”
Gibson told prosecutors that Devin was able to move about freely in the car and was able to get out any time he wanted while at the nursing center. She said she did not know why he didn’t get out of the car when he felt hot.
“I never told my son to stay in the car,” she said. “He could have come into the facilities to use the restroom if he had to.”
Wijerickrama then asked if Devin could go in to use the restroom, why Gibson put her son in diapers.
“Devin had a wetting problem,” Gibson said. “He would often be out playing and not think to come inside to use the bathroom and he would wet himself. So, sometimes I would put him in pull-ups (diapers). I put him in pull ups before we left that morning.”
Wijewickrama also asked Gibson why she hadn’t let co-worker Alesia Adorno know that Devin was in the car while they drove to Mountain Trace. Adorno had driven Gibson’s car both days they worked at the nursing center.
“I didn’t want Alesia (Adorno) to know Devin was in the car,” she said. “I didn’t know her well enough to confide in her.”
Adorno testified last Tuesday (May 16) that Gibson had told her Devin was with a babysitter while they were working at the nursing home. Gibson said she had no recollection of saying that to her co-worker.
During closing arguments Monday morning, Wijewickrama spoke for nearly 90 minutes on how Gibson’s actions were reckless enough to infer malice, which made them in line with the state statutes for second-degree murder. Little of the time was spent on the abuse charges, though he did describe Devin’s being left in the car as a “continuous act of child abuse.”
Meanwhile, Seago contended that the state had not proven malice, and Gibson was thus not guilty of second-degree murder. Since her actions were not intentional, Seago also said Gibson was innocent of the child abuse charges.
Gibson, who has been in jail for a year was set free after the trial adjourned.
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