WARREN MURDER TRIAL No expert testimony planned for defense

Defense attorneys are asking that the murder charges be dismissed.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Jurors in the Gloria Greenfield case will hear expert medical testimony only from the prosecution.
Defense attorneys told Judge Andrew Logan on Wednesday that they do not plan to call an expert witness during Greenfield's murder trial in February.
Attys. Anthony Consoldane and James Lewis of the Ohio Public Defender's office, who represent Greenfield, did not explain why they are not hiring an expert.
Prosecutors have said they plan to call Dr. Janice Ophoven, a forensic pathologist from Minnesota, to testify. Dr. Ophoven has stated during previous hearings that she thinks three of Greenfield's children were murdered and that they died as a result of asphyxia.
Greenfield, 52, of Robbins Avenue, Niles, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder. She has pleaded innocent.
She is accused of killing her three infant children: Melissa in 1969, Theodore II in 1970 and Regina Woods in 1971.
Seeking dismissal of charges
Defense attorneys also filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the murder counts, stating that the prosecutors took too long to file the charges.
Atty. Christopher Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, could not be reached to comment.
The defense noted that the children died more than 30 years ago.
At the times of their deaths, the coroner ruled the children died of natural causes.
The Trumbull County Coroner's office changed the causes of death earlier this year: Regina's and Theodore's are now being attributed to asphyxia, and Melissa's is listed as undetermined. All three have been ruled homicides.
Dr. Ophoven noted during previous hearings that the three infants had blood on them or blood at the scene of their death.
She also said that in most SIDS cases, the infant has small pinpoint bleeding on the thymus gland, which is located in the neck. She said that was not noted on any of Greenfield's children when the autopsies were performed.
Consoldane and Lewis said Ophoven is presenting only a theory and not medical facts.
Greenfield is also accused of trying to kill another daughter, Gloria Bennight, when she was 44 days old and again when she was 80 days old.
Bennight, now 30, called attention to the case when she contacted the coroner's office seeking information about her siblings' deaths.
sinkovich@vindy.com