A Case of Justice

Baby sitter, 21, convicted in death of 2-year-old Portsmouth boy in 2005


By Janie Bryant The Virginian-Pilot © March 15, 2008 PORTSMOUTH

By the time 2-year-old Koby Stewart Jr. was taken to the hospital on Oct. 6, 2005, he was seizing and unconscious. Doctors tried to save him, but the injury that caused swelling to his brain ultimately ended in his death. Eight days later, the toddler was taken off life support. On Friday, a jury decided Shawntisha Gatling, the woman who had been Koby’s baby sitter since he was an infant, was guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Jurors recommended a sentence of seven years. She will be formally sentenced by a judge in May. The week Koby was injured, he had been staying with Gatling, 21, and her boyfriend, Robert Waddler. Waddler, who is charged with felony child neglect in connection with Koby’s death, testified that the toddler had fallen off a bed and hit his head on the frame that week. He said he also walked into a door. But a medical examiner said during the four-day trial in Portsmouth Circuit Court that the child died of inflicted brain injury. Two pediatricians at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, one who specializes in critical care and another in child abuse, testified that a 2-year-old would not have the ability to create the kind of force it would take to cause the injury that killed him. A defense witness, a longtime medical examiner now working as a consultant, testified that a lesser impact could have led to the injury. But Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Douglas B. Ottinger said the doctors who had testified for the prosecution had actually seen the child before and after he died and had more information in reaching their conclusions. What happened to Koby was “done to him,” Ottinger said. Defense attorneys had argued there was nothing but circumstantial evidence. “Nobody knows what happened,” said Jay Normile, one of two defense attorneys. They also argued there was no way of knowing when it happened. One of the pediatricians testified that the impact of the injury that led to Koby’s death would have been noticeable within minutes to hours. He would not act normal or be able to walk, talk or eat, another pediatrician said. A woman who knew Gatling testified she saw her walking with the child on the afternoon of the day he was taken to the hospital. Gatling’s boyfriend testified he had talked to the child on the phone during a break at work about the same time. When he got home from work, he said, Gatling was trying, but unable, to wake up Koby . Waddler said she smoked a cigarette and paced as he tried to get the child up. Koby’s mother, Cyntrya Pete, 25, was called to come and get him. By the time Pete got the child to the hospital, he was not breathing. Two years later, she has little but family photos to show the dimpled smile of a little boy who seemed to trust the world. When he died, Koby left that world much more than he had received. A little bit of Koby goes on in the lives of four children and one adult who received his donated organs. Pete said she got a letter from the mother of one of the children, a little girl who had waited at least two years for a transplant. But she credited Koby’s father with making the decision. They had both experienced the pain of watching Koby slip away. “They did everything they could for my son,” said Koby Stewart Sr., 34, of Pennsylvania. Stewart said he wanted to think if a transplant would have saved Koby’s life, someone would have done the same for them.