But Still Made it to Court - Pt. II

Defendant drunk during trial
By CAITLIN HEANEY
Evening Sun Reporter
Article Launched: 01/26/2008 04:05:30 AM EST

A man on trial for allegedly shaking and injuring his infant son was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs Friday after a portable breath test showed he was under the influence of alcohol during his trial.

Kelly Rolan Wantz, 38, whose last known address was 45 N. Queen St. in Littlestown, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.32 - four times Pennsylvania's level for driving under the influence of 0.08 - and was remanded to Adams County prison. President Judge John D. Kuhn also revoked Wantz's bail and berated him for his actions, telling Wantz he did not know what to say about how disappointed he was.

"You have created an inconvenience for the court," Kuhn said.

Wantz's trial started Thursday and resumed Friday but recessed shortly before 11 a.m. when the county sheriff's department took Wantz into custody. The trial is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Wantz is charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and harassment for allegedly shaking one of his month-old twin sons, Jacob Wantz, on Jan. 27, 2005. But District Attorney Shawn Wagner said Friday he did not plan to pursue the simple assault and reckless endangerment charges.
The prosecution had not yet rested its case Friday when Kuhn asked to speak privately with Wantz's attorney, Gettysburg-based Robert Chester, and Wagner, who had paused a few times while questioning witnesses earlier in the day when Wantz began speaking loudly to Chester.

Kuhn then decided to recess the trial for a few minutes, during which time the county's probation department gave Wantz a portable breath test. Kuhn later said it was brought to his attention that Wantz might have been under the influence of alcohol.

There was a concern the portable test's results might not have shown the extent of Wantz's intoxication, Kuhn said.

The jury did not return to the courtroom after the recess, so no jurors were there when Wantz left in handcuffs with sheriff's department officials.

Wagner said the prison would have to decide if Wantz needed to be taken to the hospital.

Chester said Wantz appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and believed, as Wantz's attorney, he needed Wantz sober to thoroughly proceed with the trial. Wantz was not drunk at trial Thursday, Chester said.

Wantz has not taken the stand yet in his own defense. Jacob's foster mother, Dana Talcott, was in the middle of her testimony Friday when the trial halted.

Adams County Children and Youth took custody of Wantz's sons shortly after the alleged shaking in January 2005 and turned the boys over to Talcott and her family, who live in Fairfield. At first the family did not know whether it would even take care of Jacob, she said.

"We weren't sure if he was even going to make it to be able to come to our house," Talcott said.

Dr. Mark Dias, a pediatric neurosurgeon who treated Jacob at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, testified Thursday that Jacob's injuries were caused either by slamming into an object, being shaken or both. Veins connecting the brain to a larger vein can break during such incidents, causing blood to build up in the brain. Scans of Jacob's brain show where blood gathered and that his brain shrank during the week following the alleged shaking, Dias said.

Talcott recalled visiting Jacob at Hershey Medical Center, during which time he used a feeding tube, barely opened his eyes and took medications to control seizures.

"He just basically laid motionless," Talcott said. "There wasn't a lot of response at that point."

Talcott and her husband kept Jacob's cradle next to their bed because of concern that Jacob might stop breathing. Jacob would open his mouth but could not cry like other infants when they first started taking care of him, Talcott said.

"You wouldn't know if he needed something because he couldn't cry," she said. "There was no way to communicate like a normal baby."

Jacob has undergone physical, occupational and speech therapy, but his brother has not had any therapy, Talcott said. Jacob has speech delays and difficulty with beginning and ending sounds of words, she said. People who know him can figure out what he says by the tone of his voice, she said, but it is frustrating for Jacob.

Becki Scott, an Adams County Children and Youth Services employee, testified Thursday that Wantz told her and Littlestown Police that he had been wiping down his twin sons, whom he put in their carseats on a table, on Jan. 27, 2005, when Jacob started to cry. The boy then began to fall asleep so Wantz rocked Jacob's carseat, but Jacob's head flopped forward and he was cold to the touch when, Scott testified Wantz told them.

Littlestown Police Department officer Douglas Hilyard testified Friday that Wantz was the man who dropped off a letter at the department in December 2005. The letter includes an admission allegedly from Wantz that he shook and threw Jacob into a crib in January 2005 and that his wife was not involved in the incident.