Today is Back To School Day for many American children: tears at the bus stop (some shed by children, mostly by parents), sparkling classrooms, dedicated teachers, sharpened pencils, lots of possibilities.

For homeschoolers, this may be just another Tuesday. I have not written much about homeschooling in relation to the trial of Larry and Carri Williams. It’s a volatile, emotional topic, hard to write about without offending or losing one’s audience, no matter which side the writer or reader is on. Also, I’ve known many homeschoolers–in my experience, they are a hard-working, thoughtful, nice group of parents and kids.

The same cautions exist for me around writing about Christians, fundamentalist or evangelical: hard to write about without sweeping generalizations and without offending or angering, and I know plenty who are nice, hard-working, thoughtful parents. I enjoy a proselytizer as much as the next person, if that means “not at all.” While I don’t share or even completely understand their beliefs, we can easily enjoy each other’s company, our kids can play together, we can read the same books, and find lots of (other) common ground.

And that’s why I believe what went on in Larry and Carri’s house was not Christian-based parenting, at least insofar as Hana and Immanuel were concerned.

As to the homeschooling, I respect the choices parents make, as they are usually in the best interest of their children.  Larry and Carri (Carri, mostly) had years of homeschooling experience with their 7 biological children. They had a schedule, a system. They had fulfilled all legal requirements of Washington State to homeschool.

The homeschooling families I know (some devout Christians, some so not) put effort into their kids’ socializing with non-homeschooled kids, usually via sports teams or community service activities. That seems, to me, a good balance, and that’s the model I’m most familiar with. It’s exactly the model that did not happen with Larry and Carri Williams, or, more to the point, with Hana and Immanuel.

“Isolation” is an element of torture, according to a witness early in the trial. It’s easy to see how a systematic deprivation of contact with others can break one’s spirit and trouble one’s mind, especially over time, especially for a child. The isolation of a shower room, a barn, a closet, an outhouse: how can that be other than devastating over time, and when repeated? Especially when it’s done by the people who are supposed to love and take care of you.

So it’s not the homeschooling as such that I take issue with here. It’s the isolation. Adopting two, older, Ethiopian children (one who is deaf) should have meant ensuring that the children are exposed to (if not surrounded by) others like them: Ethiopians, people of color, deaf people, adopted children, adopted adults.

We will, of course, never know whether anything might have turned out differently for Hana, Immanuel, and the entire family, if they had not kept themselves and their two adopted children isolated from the community. My understanding is that by 2011, the Williams family stopped going to their church as much, and certainly stopped bringing Hana and Immanuel; they used the nursery/music room for home-church. That’s the room with the closet that Hana was locked in, where Carri played gospel music for Hana. I can only wonder at how abandoned Hana felt.

In this context, the idea of role models for adoptees is almost laughable. All adopted children should have those role models, especially transracial ones, in order to form healthy identities and self-understanding. It’s not a small thing.

In the world of Hana and Immanuel, of course, self-understanding took an enormous back step to survival.

Six school-age biological Williams’ children are now in the care of relatives or foster families, as best I know. The oldest, Joshua, is in the US Army, and will soon be serving in Korea; he may be there now. Immanuel is in foster care, with a deaf foster mom who has taught him to sign well. He is thriving, while still facing many challenges, from what I’ve heard. I don’t know how many, if any, of the children are now in public school. If today was a Back To School Day for them, I genuinely wish them all the best.

The trial resumes at 9am tomorrow, September 4, at 9 am. The judge will give instructions to the jury, and the lawyers will present their closing arguments. The jury will then begin deliberations.

Justice for Hana, justice for Immanuel.

All testimony was competed today in the trial of Larry and Carri Williams. The jurors were excused at around 2:30, and told to report back next Wednesday, September 4, at 9am. Judge Susan Cook will give them instructions: what the charges are, what the jurors’ rights and responsibilities are as they deliberate. There will also be closing arguments by both the defense and the prosecution. No one knows how long the jury will take to decide on a verdict.

Today’s testimony began with Dr. Kathleen Taylor, a forensic anthropologist, who had previously provided testimony about Hana’s age, based on Dr. Taylor’s examination of Hana’s x-rays. She was called by the prosecution largely in response to yesterday’s testimony by defense witness Dr. Jordan Haber. Dr. Taylor estimated Hana’s age as between 13 and 17. She magnified the x-rays to see the details of the bones, the trochanter, and the epiphysis. “Magnifying doesn’t alter the image,” she said, in contrast to Dr. Haber’s position, which was that magnifying the images is not the way radiologists determine bone age. Why would you magnify an x-ray, asked the prosecutor. “To see in better detail what you’re looking at,” said Dr. Taylor.

Ms. Trueblood, the defense attorney, noted that Dr. Taylor is a Ph.D., and not a medical doctor nor a radiologist. There was brief discussion about the books that Taylor and Haber had consulted for their estimations.

The cross-examination of Carri Williams then began again. The prosecuting attorney Rosemary Kaholakula started by presenting Carri with multiple photos, asking if she recognized them. “That is my daughter Hana and my son Immanuel.” “That is my daughter Hana.”

Carri: “That is a photo of my beautiful children, whom you ripped apart.”

Attorney: “I didn’t. Hana died, in your back yard.”

Carri: “Hana passed away.”

Later, in questions about the night Hana died, Carri said “I believe she unintentionally killed herself,” and “I believe she did this to herself.”

During a break, the judge had to caution the spectators in the courtroom not to make any sounds, as there had been a fair amount of muffled sighs and crying, while Carri was testifying. Carri herself wept several times.

Recaps:

Larry had suggested the Port-A-Potty and Carri agreed. Hana was the only one who used it, until she died, and it is still outside the barn for use by others. They thought she would only use it for a day or two.

At first, Hana was quiet, polite, very bright, and not completely cooperative, according to Carri. After about a year and a half after she arrived in Washington State, Hana’s “real personality came out,” the rebellious nature she’d apparently been hiding until then. Carri did not seek any help from the adoption agency or from any professionals for this rebelliousness.

The outdoor shower was not, Carri said, called an outdoor shower. It was a piece of wood over which the garden hose could be placed. Larry dug the hole for the post. (Larry testified he’d had nothing to do with it.) Hana took quick showers, Carri noted: “4 minutes.” Was the water cold outside? “Yes.”

About not going to the doctor after 2009: “Hana was the healthiest of my children,” said Carri. There was no need to go to a doctor.

About Immanuel’s behavioral problems: Carri said Immanuel failed to say thank you “properly” at the table, didn’t respond to stomping that was meant to get his attention, and changed a correct math answer to a wrong one. Of his wetting himself, she said he did it on purpose: he told her that. She didn’t take him to a doctor because it wasn’t a medical problem.

About Hana’s behavioral problems: She lied and stole. She didn’t steal just any food, Carri said. She stole junk food: sweets. She also wrote capital letters in the middle of words, and didn’t stand or sit exactly where she was told.

Hana was locked in the shower room and other places to keep her from stealing junk food, which Carri said she was “hoarding and gorging.” (Maureen: This is not at all unusual behavior of children who have been institutionalized, or otherwise had food limited. It made me wonder—yet again—how much Carri understood about the behaviors of internationally adopted children. There are lots of strategies for dealing with this sort of behavior, none of which involve locking a child in a closet.)

There is, as always, more to say. And I will do so, tomorrow. I am sure Gina Cole of the Skagit Valley Herald will post an update tonight, and KIRO-TV has been updating every day as well. I have very limited Internet where I am right now, so will post this, and then post more tomorrow.

Many thanks to all those of you who have offered kind words and gratitude to me for my posts. We are all here for Hana, in our own ways.

Justice for Hana, justice for Immanuel.

I want to start by sharing a lovely gesture, for which I am grateful. I had been chatting about my drive to and from Mount Vernon each day (ok, maybe complaining a bit). The very kind Gail Taylor, who’s also been attending the trial, today gave me a very nice note with a very generous gas gift card! So sweet and unexpected. Such a reminder of people’s good hearts.  Thank you, Gail!

The first witness of the day was Dr. Jordan Haber, Board-certified in diagnostic radiology. The defense spent quite a bit of time reviewing Dr. Haber’s credentials, including that he is in Mensa. (Is one “in” Mensa? Or “of” Mensa?) He does age estimations based on bones, and based on x-rays. At the request of the defense, he reviewed 3 CD-ROMs of Hana’s x-rays.

I am not a lawyer, and I am not a doctor. There was much jockeying of medical terminology today. Dr. Haber charges $500 an hour. He said he will probably earn between $20,000 and $25,000 for his work on this case. I am making substantially less following this case lol, so bear with me.

Here’s the bottom line, from Dr. Haber’s testimony of about 4 hours. Based on Hana’s left hand, Dr. Haber estimated Hana’s age at 15 years of age. Based on her left hip bone, the estimate would be at least 16. The right hip estimate would be older than 16. The heel bone estimate would be at least 15.

One “outlier” (it may have been “outliner”) or inconsistency was her humerus (the funny bone), which he estimated at 13-15 years of age. He noted that only to indicate that there was a difference from his other general findings, which placed Hana somewhere in the 15-17 year age range.

This all matters because of the charge of homicide by abuse, which requires victims to be no older than 16. Manslaughter is the other charge that Larry and Carri Williams face in regard to Hana, plus first degree assault of their other Ethiopian adopted child, Immanuel.

There was much discussion about how radiologists look at x-rays, and about the “gold standard” of special medical atlases to which they all refer in their determinations of age via bones, since the dawn of time, or at least the 1940’s. The prosecution showed an enlarged photo of Hana’s pelvis x-ray, and Dr. Haber explained at great length that enlarging photos is simply not done in the “clinical real world.”

Hmm.

The most heartening part of Dr. Haber’s testimony was during questioning from Larry Williams’ attorney, Rachel Forde. After again reviewing Dr. Haber’s credentials and his use of the “gold standard” of medical atlases, she asked about his determination of Hana’s age. “She’s at least 15,” he said. Could she well have been 16 or 17? “I can’t exclude 16-17. But I feel more comfortable saying she’s 15.”

There was then much discussion of calcium, bone development, food served in Hana’s orphanage, and diet in Ethiopia. Ms. Forde and Dr. Haber chatted about an article in a peer-reviewed British journal about forensic radiology.

After lunch, the lawyers and the doctor discussed the data again (today’s new words: “trochanter” and “epiphysis”), with Dr. Haber appearing frustrated fairly often about not being allowed to explain his answers fully. (It made me wonder what all our lives would be like if we answered only the question asked of us, as is the standard in the courtroom.) Dr. Haber also said, in response to a prosecutor’s question “That’s reductio ad absurdum!” It’s a phrase which we don’t hear often enough.

After Dr. Haber wrapped up, Carri Williams again took the stand. Cassie Trueblood, a defense attorney for Larry Williams, started off asking about whether Carri had noticed Hana’s weight loss–she had. Then a recap of various items: modesty was very important to the family (none of the girls wore bathing suits, for example, but wore tee shirts and shorts instead, including Carri). “We definitely covered ourselves,” Carri said, about general clothing practice. Ms. Trueblood confirmed that Larry Williams was not home the day Hana died, until he arrived after 911 had been called following Hana’s collapse outside.

The prosecutor Rosemary Kaholokula then began questioning Carri. (My writing may seem a little choppy here, but it reflects to some extent the way that the lawyer moved from subject to subject in the cross-examination.) She asked Carri about the word “oppositional,” which Carri used multiple times yesterday to describe Hana. Ms. Kaholokula asked: “That’s not a medical diagnosis, is it? You didn’t take Hana to a doctor?” Carri agreed it was a term she used, not from a doctor.

Religion was discussed at length. Carri said that she and Larry lived by Godly rules, that she believed that men are head of the household, and wives need to respect and support them. If Larry had told Carri not to treat Hana a certain way, she would not have. Carri made clear she never “hit” Hana or Immanuel. She did swat and spank them, as part of their child-raising approach.

About the glue stick: No, Carri hadn’t gotten that from her mother; it was Carri’s own idea. It was used for training and discipline.

She got the idea of the plumbing line (a plastic rod about a half-inch wide, about 16 inches long–my estimates from seeing it in court) from a book. Larry agreed with her on its use.

Carri used a belt occasionally as an appropriate consequence.  Larry agreed with that also.

Ms. Kaholokula asked about something Immanuel had mentioned in his testimony, Carri’s rolling the plumbing line up and down his face. Immanuel thought that was funny, Carri said. (Maureen: that wasn’t the impression I’ve had, reading about it.  I wasn’t in the court room when Immanuel testified about it. Ms. Kaholokula seemed a bit skeptical as well.)

The prosecutor asked about the Boot Camp, noting that Carri had yesterday referred to it as a “fun term” for the system of extra chores. Ms. Kaholokula asked, “Was there a fun term for the closet? For the shower room?”

“No.”

Larry and Carri agreed that the 3 older boys had authorization to swat (not spank) the younger children. (This would seem to conflict with Carri’s testimony yesterday about how each of the 3 boys went out and spanked Hana on her bottom when she was outside refusing to go in on the night she died. I imagine Ms. Kaholokula will ask about that tomorrow.)

Ms. Kaholokula began a long line of questioning about the Williamses’ adoption process, primarily focusing on Carri’s knowledge or awareness of Hana’s age. Hana’s age (as provided by the orphanage and/or agency) was listed on the Medical Information Report, the Child Assessment Report, and the Initial Medical Report.

Carri was also asked about whether she had disclosed that they believed in corporal punishment on the adoption forms. She said very firmly that she had put down that they spanked. Ms. Kaholokula showed Carri the Personal Data Sheet, signed by Carri: the section on “Parenting Style/Philosophy of Parenting” said nothing about spanking.

Carri said she had done some basic reading about hepatitis B, information provided by the adoption agency, Adoption Advocates International. Yes, Carri knew prior to adoption that Hana was a carrier of hepatitis B.

Ms. Kaholokula reviewed the Post-Placement Reports completed after Hana and Immanuel arrived. Hana was described as enjoying knitting with Carri, as well as beading, soccer, cooking, bike riding, sledding, and other activities. Carri said these weren’t the only activities that Hana enjoyed, just the ones she included on the reports.

There were no punishments the first year after Hana was in the United States. Things went sour after about a year and a half. Carri denied the allegation made earlier in the trial that she had said she wanted to have Hana’s birth year changed so that when Hana was 16, she could get rid of her.

Carri said the doctor who examined Immanuel “chose not to include” information about Immanuel’s scars in his report.

The Williams’ household had rules, which everyone was expected to follow, and on which Larry and Carri agreed. Hana and Immanuel were punished more, because they were more oppositional than the other children. Only Hana and Immanuel slept in the shower room, or barn, or closet; only they had wet sandwiches and cold leftovers with half-frozen vegetables.

About Immanuel’s proficiency with sign language, Ms. Kaholokula noted that Carri had said yesterday that after about 6 weeks’ time in the US, Immanuel was using ASL fairly well, including sentences. The Post-Placement Reports, signed by Carri, said however that even after a year in the US, Immanuel was at about at the level of a 3-4 year old in terms of language.

Ms. Kaholokula showed Carri many photographs, including one of Hana wearing a towel “as a wraparound skirt,” Carri said, because of “lying about her pants.” Hana received several verbal corrections before she had to wear the towel.

Toward the end of the cross-examination, Ms. Kaholokula began questioning Carri about the book To Train Up A Child, by Michael and Debi Pearl (This is a very controversial book  about child-raising.) The book, which the prosecutor showed to Carri, was found in the Williams’ home. Carri said that she had read it, though she has read “thousands of books.” She did get the idea for the plumbing line from the book, but didn’t agree with everything in the book. Carri believes “spanking shouldn’t cause pain. Just discomfort, being uncomfortable.” She did not get the idea from the book of hosing down Immanuel after he wet himself; that was Larry’s idea, and she agreed.

The clock struck 4:30, and the judge declared the day over. Testimony will resume at 9am tomorrow.

Yesterday (August 27) certainly had its elements of surrealism. A young soldier testified in court about the death of his adopted sister, testimony that will probably influence sending one or both of them to jail.

HIs mother, Carri Williams, on trial for homicide, manslaughter and first degree child abuse, saw her firstborn and no doubt beloved child, after not having any contact with him since September of 20111.

And then Joshua’s dad took the stand to say how responsible and ashamed he feels for Hana’s death, going on to say that, really, most of the disciplinary decisions were Carri’s, and he really wishes now he had done more to help.

You can read about yesterday’s events here and here.

Larry Williams, with his public defender Rachel Forde

While there has been strong competition in the last few weeks for this title (including yesterday), today had to count as An Incredibly Surreal Day in the trial of Larry and Carri Williams.

Today (August 28) Larry Williams testified, followed by Carri’s sister, mother, and father, and then by Carri herself. Oh my.

Larry Williams Finishes Up

The testimony began with a recap of sorts (I’ve decided lawyers like recaps. With at least 3 questioning each witness in the trial, it’s not unusual to hear: “I’d like to go over a few points you just discussed.”)There was fairly lengthy discussion of when in 2011 Larry stopped hitting (or “correcting”) Hana and Immanuel. Some things didn’t change that year. They kept feeding leftovers to Hana and Immanuel outside, they kept locking Hana in the closet, and Hana kept using the Port-a-Potty and taking showers outside. Larry reiterated that he felt things needed to change, and that’s why he stopped spanking Hana and Immanuel. “What we were doing wasn’t working.”

The prosecutor asked him if the disciplinary techniques were based on religious beliefs? Larry responded, “I guess you could say that.” Carri’s defense attorney asked where Larry and Carri had learned these techniques: “From a book.” And that was the extent of any discussion regarding Christianity and its application in the Williams’ household. (The book which most people feel the defense attorney was alluding to was “How To Train Up A Child,” by Michael Pearl, but it was not named.)

Larry didn’t remember a lot of things that may or may not have happened in 2011: if gospel music was played in the closet where Hana was locked, whether Larry stopped giving cold showers to Immanuel, whether he said that Carri or the kids couldn’t talk to Hana and Immanuel without permission, whether Hana was punished the first time she was caught stealing food.

He recalled telling Carri that he wasn’t going to spank anymore, but didn’t tell her not to. He considers himself the head of the household, but would never suggest she has to obey him, “under any circumstances.”

The testimony recapped a litany of Whose idea Was This? The list of ideas: putting Hana in the closet, serving leftovers, serving frozen food, sleeping in the barn, sleeping in the shower room, and using a Port-A-Potty out by the barn. All these ideas were Carri’s, according to Larry.

The lawyer asked: Did you come up with any ideas for discipline? Larry’s answer: “I don’t remember.”

And with that, the defense attorneys for Larry Williams rested.

That meant that Carri’s defense attorneys began calling their witnesses.

Next up: Carol Miller, Carrie’s sister

Carol and Carrie were always very close, and had a very normal, healthy relationship, according to Carol. Carol is envious of Larry and Carri’s relationship, which she described as “cordial” and “loving.”

Carol met Hana and Immanuel about a week after they arrived in the US from Ethiopia, which would mean around this time in August of 2008. All the kids were playing outside, she said, and Immanuel hit someone. Larry spoke with him (signed, since Immanuel is deaf, though one wonders how much sign language he would have learned after one week).

Carol was a bit shocked by Immanuel’s behavior: “We were raised where we weren’t allowed to hit at all.”

Carol was questioned at length about the scars all over Immanuel’s back and face, which she said were all present when she saw him that first time. She said both Larry and Carri were head of the household. Carol never saw any worse discipline than Immanuel being taken aside and spoken to.

Charlotte Miller, Carrie’s Mother

Charlotte has 17 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. She and her husband visited Carri and her family many times. She didn’t know how often. “Who keeps count?”

At the same gathering that Carol described, Charlotte said Hana was quiet, looking around, “checking out who we are.” Immanuel, in contrast was aggressive: kicking, screaming, punching, She thought it was “odd that he was so violent.” Charlotte spoke loudly into the microphone. She said Immanuel was “mad and angry that be didn’t get the ball” in the game the kids were playing, and he let out a “blood curdling scream.” She acknowledged that he is deaf, and said she’d heard the sounds of deaf people before.

She said Immanuel was covered in scars: “many, many.” When asked when it was that she had seen the scars, she said it has been “2, or 3, or 5 years. Whatever. It’s hard to remember.” Of his eating habits, Charlotte said Immanuel ate like he’d never eaten before. Hana ate a lot too, 2 or 3 helpings. As to misbehavior on Hana’s part, Charlotte noticed that at meal times, Hana “would act like she was busy cleaning up, but she wasn’t really doing anything.”

Charlotte shared an anecdote about being the only one to see Hana one time suddenly fall to her knees, on the gravel area past the concrete slab. She said Hana, with a shocked look on her face, jumped up when she saw Charlotte, and ran into the barn.

(Maureen: I don’t know what to make of this story.)

When the prosecutor questioned her, Charlotte became more animated. She reiterated Immanuel’s violence and blood curdling screams. She said no one else kicked or struck him, and that his parents always stepped in and talked with Immanuel through sign language. Charlotte said, “My daughter taught him everything he knows.”

The prosecutor showed him photos of Immanuel’s scars, and then showed her another photo of (someone’s) legs with obvious scars. Defense attorneys, I believe, offered an objection, at the same time Charlotte herself became upset at being questioned about an unknown person’s scars, even yelling loudly “I object to this!”

Charlotte never saw Hana and Immanuel eating outside, or eating different foods, and did not recall Carri saying that she had spanked Hana with a switch.

George Miller, Carri’s Father

George is a retired police officer. He did not recall too much about Immanuel’s scars, and not too much about Immanuel’s problem of wetting himself. He said that Hana and Carri were very loving and affectionate with each other, and so were Immanuel and Carri. Hana’s demeanor did change over time, and Hana became more stand-offish, more rebellious, not cooperating.

If he had seen anything concerning in the Williams’ household, George said, he would have been compelled to report it, as an officer of the court.

My next post will be about Carri Williams’ testimony.

Larry Williams took the stand today after his oldest son finished. You can read about Joshua Williams’ testimony here.

Much of Larry Williams’ this afternoon testimony consisted of “I don’t remember.” Some of it was also long pauses and the pronouncement: “It was Carri’s decision.” Carri, according to Larry, decided to construct and installed the post for the outdoor shower. Carri decided the closet would be a good place to put Hana for hours, with a lock and light on the outside. Carri decided the Port-a-Potty would be a good idea. Carri decided to cut Hana’s hair off when Hana was not rinsing the shampoo out. Carri was the one who suggested that Immanuel be hit on the soles of his feet. Larry never hit the children on bare skin. And Larry had nothing to do with Hana’s showers outside.

Several times, Larry said he did not approve of his wife’s decisions. Why did he go along with the decision to put Hana in the closet? “The way Carri presented it, it was to help Hana.”

In spring 2011, the family was in astonishing disarray, from what we’ve heard in this trial. Larry said he’d decided to stop spanking Immanuel and Hana, because “different tactics” were needed–the spanking wasn’t working. Larry also wanted to stop the other tactics (the use of the closet, the outdoor shower, the Port-a-Potty) because, he said, “It was clear that what we were doing wasn’t working.”

Larry testified that he expressed this to Carri, but things didn’t change.

The prosecutor asked Larry why he didn’t take things into his own hands. Larry said, tremulously, “Carri was a wonderful mother. What she had done had always worked really well with the kids. I wish I had (taken things into my own hands), looking back.”

Larry worked at Boeing, in Everett, Washington, about 45 miles from the family home in Sedro-Woolley. He was gone, Monday through Friday, from about noon to midnight. He worked occasional overtime and weekends. Carri was a homeschooling mom, he said.

The Adoption Decision

Larry and Carri had both always wanted lots of children. When their last biological daughter was born in 2004, Carri had two ectopic pregnancies and her fallopian tubes were removed. They’d always thought it would be interesting to adopt a deaf child, since Carri was trained in sign language. In 2007, a church friend had called Carri because the friend was thinking about adopting a deaf child from Ethiopia and wanted some help or advice from Carri. Larry and Carri thought of this as an opportunity presenting itself for them. The DVD that their adoption agency (Adoption Advocates International of Washington state) sent to them included footage of Immanuel and of Hana. “Our hearts went out to her,” Larry said.

Pause.

(From Maureen: And so two older, unrelated children from Ethiopia were placed with the Williamses. You can view my thoughts regarding adoption agency issues in this post.)

The Arrival and Early Days

Hana and Immanuel arrived at SeaTac Airport just 9 months after the decision to adopt, Larry said.

(Maureen: Five years ago this very month they arrived. Three and a half years later, Hana was dead.)

Larry said the whole family was very excited about the adoption, and Carri taught everyone more sign language, since Immanuel knew very little upon arrival. Hana was, in teh early days, a quiet, well-behaved child, according to Larry. She loved to read. Larry said she could read English well, but not speak or understand very well. She spoke with a European accent, he said. She picked up English quickly. Larry smiled as he recalled that Hana was left-handed, like him: “We were the only ones in the family.” He called her affectionate and playful, in the early days.

Immanuel was quite different, and had more behavioral issues. Since he was deaf, language and communication were big issues. Immanuel was also an aggressive boy, who would bite, kick, and hit. The discipline strategy then was to say “No!,” to sit with him, to help him understand what he was doing wrong. Larry often used the word “correcting” rather than “punishing.”

Years 2 and 3

These were the years of spanking, of outdoor showers, of the closet, of the Port-a-potty. Larry recounted various times that he used the switch on Immanuel, and the two (maybe three) times he’d used a belt on him (never the buckle), though he couldn’t recall why exactly. It was “a training type of teaching,” he said. Immanuel didn’t follow directions, Larry said, though he couldn’t be more precise than that. The “corrections” began for Immanuel around 2009; for Hana, not until summer 2010.

Immanuel also had a problem with wetting himself, which Larry said Immanuel “did on purpose.” The punishment could be a cold shower outside (with clothes on) if he’d been outside, or a cold bath or shower inside (without clothes) if he’s been inside. Larry never punished Immanuel for wetting the bed, said he said. In fact, daughter Cara and son Johnny had also wet their beds until they were 9 or 10; all 3 children wore diapers every night.

Hana’s behavior deteriorated, according to Larry Williams, over the last year of her life. He said Hana and Immanuel were outside to eat because of “disagreeable behavior,” and “not wanting to cooperate.” Hana and Immanuel were fed cold leftovers, and frozen food. (The defense attorney, yesterday I think, asked the physician witness to confirm that frozen food has the same nutritional value as cooked.)

Hana stole food. Larry said he caught her with bread that had a jar of jam and chocolate syrup on it. The punishment at first was to sleep alone in the loft of the barn for a few nights. Hana apparently continued to steal food, and moved from sleeping in the barn to the shower room, to the floor of the nursery, to the closet of the nursery.

Hana and Immanuel were the only Williams’ children who slept in the shower room as a punishment. Hana was the only one who was punished (corrected, disciplined) by sleeping in the barn (which had no electricity). Hana was the only one who was locked in the closet. Larry didn’t remember if he’d used the belt on any of the other children. He didn’t remember why Hana and Immanuel weren’t allowed to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family in 2011.

The Port-A-Potty

Larry said one day at home he heard Carri gasp and turned to see Hana smearing menstrual blood on the door. Carri decided a Port-a-Potty was the solution, and Larry said they both thought it would be short-term. He couldn’t remember exactly when they got it, but soon after the blood incident. Both Larry and Carri would walk Hana outside to use the Port-A-Potty. It was serviced in January and May of 2011. Hana was the only one who used it. Larry said they thought Hana would improve her hygiene habits, and then they’d keep the Port-a-Potty for general use outside their home.

Hana’s Age

This is a constant issue in this trial, because of the homicide by abuse charge. This serious charge stands only if Hana was not 16 at the time of death. Larry said that he and Carri, at the request of the adoption agency, chose Hana’s birth date: July 19, 1997. Over time, though, they grew to believe she was older. Larry said Hana told him at some point that she was 16, and he filled out an application for an age change, to put her year of birth as 1994. The change was never approved.

The prosecutor showed Larry two documents that Larry had signed, showing Hana’s birth date as July 19, 1997. One was a homeschooling form; the other was Hana’s death certificate.

The Night of Hana’s Death

When Larry talked about arriving home after midnight on May 12, 2011, he paused, and choked up a bit. His lawyer Rachel Forde asked him, “What was in your head then?” He said he saw Hana lying on the floor near the front door. Carri was giving her chest compressions. “Hana was naked on the floor,” Larry said. “She looked really thin. I was struck by that.”

The trial continues tomorrow at 9am. Carri’s defense attorneys have 3 witnesses, and I am guessing that Larry will again be on the stand.