Friday 10:45 a.m.   Courtesy Little Apple Post (Michael Pagels)    The jury took the stand at 9 a.m. on September 27th to hear the opening statements in the trial of Anthony Brown Sr., of Salina, at the Riley County Court House. The state prosecutor, Ellen Mitchell, gave her opening statement first, due to the burden of evidence being on the state to prosecute Brown.

Mitchell described the events that occurred leading up to the death of Brittney Betzold’s child, Clayden Urbanek. Brittney, as well as the defendant and one other friend Michael, moved into a house at 612 W. Prescot in Salina towards the end of February 2011. The house did not have electricity, and because Brittney worked at the Tony’s Pizza plant she left child care up to Brown during the week days. The father of Clayden, Jordan Urbanek, took care of Clayden every weekend since his and Brittney’s separation.

During the last week of September, a series of events led to Clayden’s death while being in the care of Brown. The day before and of his death, October 3rd and 4th, Clayden was very sick and would not keep food down. Brittney had noticed many bruises on the child, as well as a cut on his foot that Brown claimed was caused by the child being clumsy. The morning of the 4th Brown noticed the child was unconscious, and called Brittney to get her to leave from work.

Mitchell then explained how Brittney returned home, and after Brown told her not to call 911, he left to get Motrin for the child. Clayden stopped breathing at around this time, and Brittney calls the defendant to tell him she was calling the ambulance, and then called 911 around 9:45 a.m. The defendant did not come back to the house, instead leaving Brittney’s car he had taken abandoned down the street for their other roommate to pick up, and went to another house. Brown then called Jordan to tell him to go to the hospital.

Salina Police responded to the residence when they received a tip from Michael, the roomate, as to where Brown might be. Brown was found hiding from the police in the basement of the residence and was then arrested.

There was a total of 108 wounds to Clayden, and his death resulted in severe blunt trauma to his abdomen. Eleven inches of intestines were dead, and though ER doctors attempted to resuscitate Clayden he had passed by 5 p.m. that day.

Brown is charged with four felonies by the prosecution, including first degree murder, aggravated child abuse and obstruction of police officers.

The defense attorney Julie Effenbeck then came to the stand on behalf of Brown. Effenbeck stated that Brown loved Clayden and Brittney, and while he had admitted to spanking the child with a wooden paddle, he did not cause the injuries that killed Clayden. Brittney has been in jail for 9 months due to a plea deal of taking a 2nd degree murder charge.

Effenbeck told the jurors that the stories of the prosecution’s witnesses were going to be convoluted, and that the state did not hold sufficient evidence to charge Brown with 1st degree murder. Brown is, of course, innocent until proven guilty, which Effenbeck reminded the jurors.

The prosecution is expecting to deliver evidence for at least four more days, from Monday to Thursday, and then the jury will convene to decide their verdict.

The Little Apple Post will continue to monitor the case, including testimony for the prosecution and the defense.

 

5 a.m.  The trial of Antonio M. Brown has been moved from Salina to Riley County and begins on Friday.

Brown is charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in the October 2011 death of his girlfriend’s 14-month-old son, Clayden Lee Urbanek.

Brown was granted a change in venue after his case received much media coverage. Jury selection has already been completed.

Saline County District Court Administrator, Todd Heitschmidt, told the Post that opening statements will be held at 9 a.m. Friday morning.

Brown had pleaded no contest in the case but Young later allowed him to withdraw the plea after finding the Brown’s attorney gave him inaccurate advice.

In February, Brown escaped from custody from the Salina County Jail..  A little more than 64 hours after escaping he was back in the jail facing additional charges of aggravated escape from custody.