The defense and the state both rested their cases just shy of a week after the beginning of the trial of Miranda Hopkins, a Troy mother charged with manslaughter in the death of her 7-week-old son.
Hopkins, 32, was arrested last winter after calling 911 upon discovering her child Jaxson unresponsive, cold to the touch and stiff.
The official cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head.
Hopkins told authorities she woke up to find her baby cold, white and “beat to hell.” She said it was possible one of her two older, severely autistic boys might have crawled into bed with her and the baby and crushed or suffocated him.
On the stand Monday however, Hopkins admitted that the story she told authorities after calling 911 was not true. She did not go to bed in her own room and wake to find Jaxson already deceased.
Instead, she said she fell asleep on the floor of her other sons’ bedroom with Jaxson asleep in the living room.
Hopkins initially told authorities that she must have “blacked out” and was “so drunk that she did not remember,” as she had drunk whiskey and had taken an antihistamine, according to a police affidavit.
In her testimony she admitted to having drunk between five and seven shots of Fireball whiskey on Jan. 11, 2017, and taking Benadryl for congestion. She also said she smoked marijuana that day as well.
During questioning by defense attorney Christopher MacLean, Hopkins said she put Jaxson in a chair in the living room, then felt ill in her other sons’ bedroom, feeling a “spinning” sensation. She later found Jaxson cold to the touch.
“I was greeted by a nightmare,” she said.
A tearful Hopkins said she lied because she was afraid her two surviving boys, one of whom may have killed Jaxson, would be taken away from her.
“Did you kill your son Jaxson?” MacLean asked.
“No,” Hopkins said.
“Do you have any knowledge of what actually happened in your house that night?” he asked.
“No,” she said.
Closing arguments begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Waldo County Superior Court in Belfast.
Colin Ellis can be contacted at 861-9253 or at:
cellis@centralmaine.com
Twitter: colinoellis
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