Opening statements set up toddler murder trial as he did it/she did it

UPDATE: The jury in the Lee Muldoon murder trial on Thursday looked at photos of 2-year-old Skylar Inman's body, which revealed some of the 130 bruises found on her body when she died.

There were bruises on her head, neck, arms, legs and the top of one of her feet, Linn County Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Strait testified.

“There were bruises on her (Skylar's) body every couple of inches.”

Muldoon, 25, of Coggon, charged with first-degree murder, is accused of killing Skylar July 11, 2008. She died of blunt force injuries.

The trial started Monday but Thursday was the first day of testimony after a three day jury selection. The trial will resume 9 a.m. Friday in Linn County District Court.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said in his opening Muldoon and Skylar's mother Brianna Volesky were both responsible for her death, but Muldoon couldn't handle the role of father figure and abused her for the two months they all lived together.

Tyler Johnston, Muldoon's public defender, said none of Skylar's injuries ties Muldoon to the child abuse and Volesky never wanted to be a mother.

“She lied and manipulated Lee Muldoon,” Johnston said. “She lied and manipulated her family and the police. She will get up her and lie on the stand.”

Maybanks said Muldoon and Volesky could never take care of this “sweet and innocent girl who was killed in all this.” Witnesses will testify how this “fun, loving little girl” changed in the last two months of her life into a “weepy, clinging child.”

Skylar changed when she and Volesky moved in with Muldoon, he said.

“Volesky was taken by Muldoon, and her family at first thought he would be a good father figure,” Maybanks said. “They were blinded by Muldoon. They believed he loved her.”

Maybanks said what started out as a father-daughter relationship turned into an abusive one. Volesky wasn't the mother Muldoon  hoped and it put more stress on him to be a parent.

Maybanks said all of those 130 external bruises on her body occurred in the last two months and there's no reasonable explanation for them. Skylar also suffered internal injuries to her intestine, rib fractures, she lost blood because it was seeping into her abdomen.

“She died a death that was as slow as it was brutal,” Maybanks said after showing a photo of a smiling Skylar to the jury.

Johnston told the jury Maybanks gave them an emotional appeal but there was no facts.  There's no physical evidence in this case to convict Muldoon.

The bruising on Skylar occurred the last two months of her life but what Maybanks didn't say is that Volesky was forced into being a mother at that time, Johnston said.

“Brianna Volesky loved that Lee Muldoon loved her child,” Johnston said. “Brianna didn't love Skylar. Muldoon didn't know that. He soon found out that Brianna did nothing for Skylar.”

Johnston said Volesky took Skylar to her grandparents every day, whether Volesky was working or not. Volesky's family members were the primary care givers of Skylar.

When Volesky was forced to take a more active role in Skylar's life, after she moved in with Muldoon, is when people started noticing the bruises, Johnston said.

Johnston also blamed the police for not doing their jobs and investigating the case. He said they questioned Muldoon like he was the killer in the first interview. They misquoted him from that interview and there was no evidence to back up the claim, he said.

In other testimony, four nurses and a doctor testified about appointments and phone calls Volesky made regarding Skylar's health problems.

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Photos by Brian Ray

The trial is expected to go three or more weeks.