2nd, tanya thaxton reid took the witness stand in her own defense. and she looked very prim and very proper, and she sounded like the very best pta suburban mom that you could find. tanya reid denied killing her daughter morgan. did you kill her? no, sir, i definitely did not. did you shake her to death? no, sir. did you bring about these seizures? no, i did not. then melodee hanes began her cross-examination. don t you think it would be an awfully big coincidence to know another child unrelated to you in your care that had the same problem? it would. i don t know if it s a coincidence or not. has that happened to you? not that i know of. you have never been in charge of another child that has had a similar problem to what your
children have had? not that i can remember right off. no. when she said no, i could have kissed her because, i mean, it was such a lie. it was such an egregious lie. hanes staff had done their homework. in 1974 when tanya was 15 years old, she was baby-sitting a child who had stopped breathing. tanya immediately called paramedics, saving the child s life. tanya became a local hero and won the town s good neighbor award. mrs. reid, would you tell the court what you received a good neighbor award for in 1974? and i m handing you state s exhibits 14 and 15. i was babysitting scott simmons, and the child quit breathing on me at the time. mark pennington is an outstanding trial attorney, but i have never seen a defense lawyer turn whiter than a sheet like he did at that very moment. i was never really sure if he actually did know about that.
doctors at iowa methodist medical center couldn t find the cause of the seizures and breathing problems 2-year-old michael reid was experiencing. a few days after they returned to iowa, michael stopped breathing again. tony collins and the other paramedics were baffled and their logbooks showed it. things didn t fit together that a kid would hold his breath long enough to make him have seizures or quit breathing. then, on sunday, february 7th, while ray reid was relaxing downstairs come upstairs. michael s in trouble! he heard tanya s screams from the master bedroom. michael was having another
every time we moved it was an advancement for him. and i was ready any time he wanted to go, i wanted to go. tanya reid was a housewife, who stayed at home to care for her children, 6-year-old carolyn and 2-year-old michael. just two days after moving to town, their youngest child, michael, stopped breathing. fortunately, tanya was a nurse and knew exactly what to do. she performed cpr and immediately took him to the emergency room of iowa methodist medical center. it was fever of viral etiology, dehydration, and vomiting. that was a pretty standard diagnosis and situation. after he was stabilized, michael was given a complete physical examination. he had a prior history of neurologic seizures, but doctors could not determine what was causing them. a few months later, the reids
quite sure how to pronounce it. when the trial began, prosecutor melodee hanes presented what she believed to be a pattern of abuse which began with morgan and continued with michael. hanes argued that tanya reid intentionally suffocated michael on 18 separate occasions before reviving him and taking him to the hospital. she also pointed out that michael did not have any breathing problems or seizures during the time he had been in foster care. the defense presented a report from the court-appointed psychologist which said that tanya was completely normal. they also argued what tanya had claimed all along, that there was a genetic cause of michael s seizures. the texas neurologist testified that both michael and morgan had abnormal brains, which possibly caused the seizures. then on the morning of march