A St.

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

A St. Paul doctor who conducted an autopsy of 18-month-old Makaio Lynn Radke testified about the baby’s injuries during the murder trial of Paul Gutierrez Jr. Monday. He said the cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries as a result of child abuse.

Gutierrez is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, child abuse and criminal sexual conduct, and one count of second-degree murder in connection with Radke’s death last April in his residence at 505 Johnson St. in Albert Lea.

On the first day of the trial, the prosecutor called in six witnesses.

Dr. Michael McGee, Ramsey County Medical Examiner, explained the findings from the autopsy with photographs and X-ray pictures projected on a screen for the jury by the prosecutor.

According to his testimony, Radke had 75 bruises all over his body, including his genital area and injuries in his anus and mouth with hemorrhages.

Internally, there were six broken ribs on the left side of his ribcage and two in the right, McGee said. As a result of the damage, 37 cc of blood flowed into the left lung. He also found other soft tissue damage to his liver and some hemorrhages.

McGee said the injuries were most likely caused by strong external pressures applied when the baby was lying on his back or left side. In his opinion, a knee or foot could impose such compressions.

The v-shape laceration in his anus was about 1.5 centimeters, or 0.6 inches, long, according to McGee. He said the cut was made prior to the rib fractures that led to the baby’s death, and the cause might be an insertion, or attempt of it, of a finger, penis or other objects.

As for the time of death, McGee said it was 10 to 12 hours before Radke was pronounced dead at Albert Lea Medical Center at 10:19 a.m. on April 21.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Michael York clarified that there were no shoeprints on the body. He also articulated that no semen was found in or around the anus, and the autopsy started around 8:30 p.m. on the day after death was confirmed.

In his preceding opening statement, prosecutor William F. Klumpp Jr. emphasized that Gutierrez was the sole adult in the house with Radke around the time the baby got the deadly injuries, while York reminded the jury that it would need proof beyond a reasonable doubt to find Gutierrez guilty.

Following Dr. McGee, Lisa Frank, a county child protection worker, took the witness stand.

Frank made an unannounced house visit to check Radke around 11 a.m. April 20, the day before the boy was found dead. The visit was based on prior reports about possible abuses on the baby.

She pointed out that she found only three small greenish bruises on the temple, chest and back above the diaper, and no injuries in his bottom area.

In response to a cross-examination by York, Frank admitted that her observation of the bottom part was made not by removing the boy’s clothes herself but by watching while the mother was changing his diaper.

A recorded telephone conversation on the day of Makaio’s death between a dispatch center and a man presumed to be Gutierrez was played during a testimony by dispatcher Barbara Whitaker.

According to Whitaker, there was a hung-up 911 call at 9:52 a.m. on April 21 from 505 Johnson St. To her return call immediately after that, the male subject replied that a baby was on the way to the hospital and there was no need for assistance. The voice of the respondent had some excitement, she said.

ALMC nurse Stacy Lynn Judd, who conducted CPR on Radke upon the admission, testified that the body temperature of the baby was 92 degrees at 10:10 a.m.

Dr. Edathil Karan of ALMC, who confirmed the death, and County Coroner Dr. Edward Shaman, who arranged the transportation of the body for autopsy at St. Paul, also testified about procedures they followed.