Trial begins for father accused of murder

Prosecutors say he slammed his 3-month-old son against a floor, killing him. He could face the death penalty.

By SHARON TUBBS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 6, 2000

LARGO -- Surrounded by suited lawyers and the stilted order of a courtroom, Jared Dougherty sat composed in his V-neck sweater and tie, gray slacks and boyish haircut.

A year ago, prosecutors say, his surroundings were much different -- filled with alcohol, drugs and persistent violence that ended with Dougherty murdering his 3-month-old son, Brennan.

Assistant State Attorney Tim Hessinger told the story to a jury late Wednesday afternoon during opening arguments in a trial expected to last through the week.

Dougherty, 23, is being tried for first-degree murder. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.

At the time of Brennan's death on March 13, 1999, Dougherty and the boy's mother, Kathryn Spencer, lived together in Sunchase apartments in Largo. The relationship was stormy, Hessinger said.

"The defendant was using his son as a tool to control Kathryn Spencer," Hessinger said.

The series of events leading to the killing began on March 11, prosecutors say. The couple and some friends partied at an area pool hall, drinking and having fun, Hessinger said. In the early morning hours the next day, however, Dougherty got upset and an argument erupted. Spencer tried to take Brennan to her father's house. But Dougherty called police and accused her of trying to kidnap their child.

Police arrived and talked with the two. Spencer went to a friend's apartment in the same complex. At some point, she returned to her home, where she found her son wailing, his head swelling.

The baby was rushed to Morton Plant Hospital and later flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa.

At the Largo Police Department, prosecutors say, Dougherty later admitted to workers from the Department of Children and Families that he grabbed Brennan and forcefully slammed him to a concrete floor. He then changed his story and said it had been a carpeted floor.

Hessinger told jurors that testimony from a medical examiner would show Brennan suffered from four head injuries, suggesting that his head was slammed to the floor more than once. Some injuries may have been from previous abuse, Hessinger said.

Brennan had been to the emergency room before. That time, his mother said he had fallen out of his high chair. The couple have no other children.

Hessinger said Spencer will testify in the case for the state, although at one point she sat beside Dougherty's family.

"Jared Dougherty engaged in an act so dangerous that only one result could be expected," Hessinger said. "If you take that child's head and you smash it into the ground . . . felony murder."

Defense lawyer Dean Livermore was less dramatic in his opening arguments, at times speaking just above a whisper. He described Dougherty and Spencer as two immature young adults who met in early 1998.

Several months into the relationship, they learned that Spencer was pregnant. Brennan was born several weeks prematurely in December 1998 with breathing problems and other complications.

"They were both probably not ready," Livermore said. "They were abusing alcohol. They were abusing drugs."

It was not uncommon for Dougherty and Spencer to argue, Livermore said. But Dougherty cared deeply for his son. He fed Brennan and changed his diapers when Spencer was away, Livermore said.

The defense team dropped clues about its strategy during the two days it took to seat a jury, asking potential jurors how they felt about dysfunctional families and whether they thought alcoholism and drug abuse were diseases or character flaws. They also asked how jurors felt about mental health experts, such as psychologists.

"Somewhere along the line, he snapped," Livermore said. "The evidence you will hear will not in any way show that he in any way intended to hurt this child."

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