Justice finally catches up to Brian Dykstra

[Unamused Cat]

IOWA CITY - A former Iowa City resident is charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of his adopted 21-month-old son in Johnson County nearly three years ago.

Brian Dale Dykstra, 31, who now lives in Central, S.C., surrendered to police at 4:28 a.m. Saturday after a warrant was issued for his arrest Thursday. He posted a $15,000 bond and left the Johnson County Jail early Saturday morning.

Police say Dykstra intentionally caused the death of his infant son, Isaac, while he was the boy’s sole caretaker Aug. 13, 2005. The boy died one day later.

Attempts to reach Brian Dykstra and his family were unsuccessful Saturday.

Isaac Jonathan Dykstra was born Nov. 18, 2003, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and had been adopted by Brian and Lisa Dykstra (from Russia) just months before his death, police said.

Story and comments: http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pb...8305/1006/news

[Gilbrit]

Brian Dale Dykstra had his freedom for 3 years too long.
The wheels of justice were not moving at their optimum for the murdered child.
Since the scumbag adoptive father, is out on bail, I can only hope justice will move a little faster and get this ass wipe in prison ASAP.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

When Brian and Lisa Dykstra brought their adopted baby boy home to Iowa City from Russia in 2005, their “dreams came true,” defense attorney Leon Spies told a 14-member jury Monday during the first day of Brian Dykstra’s murder trial.

“By all accounts, Brian Dykstra was an eager, loving father,” Spies told the nine female and five male jurors.

Dykstra was arrested in August 2008 and charged with second-degree murder after his 21-month-old son, Isaac, died with severe brain injuries on Aug. 14, 2005.

But Spies told jurors during opening statements of his client’s trial on Monday that Brian and Lisa Dykstra were devoted parents who shared a “strong faith.” They decided to adopt Isaac after learning they couldn’t have biological children.

Isaac had a clubfoot, and his parents paid for the best care – even though their insurance wouldn’t cover it, Spies said. Lisa Dykstra often would take baby Isaac to watch his dad play softball, according to Spies, and Brian Dykstra would have Isaac in his arms between innings.

“He loved his little boy,” Spies said.

On Aug. 10, 2005, according to the defense attorney, their lives changed forever. The boy fell head first onto a concrete floor, Spies told the jurors, and immediately exhibited bruising.

Over the next few days, Isaac showed other “subtle but important changes,” including a “squishy” spot on top of his head.

When Isaac began crying and holding his head on Aug. 13, 2005, Dykstra panicked, called 911 and then hung up, according to Spies.

“We all know people respond differently in a panic,” Spies said.

But prosecutors said that when paramedics responded, they found a pale child with bluish lips and fixed pupils. He had visible bruising near his ear and a soft spot on top of his head.

Assistant County Attorney Beth Beglin told jurors Monday that Dykstra explained to a first responder only that the boy had fallen a few days ago and bumped his head. Responders asked what happened that morning but “never got an answer as to what occurred,” Beglin said.

“The defendant talked about the dogs, the dogs outside and who was going to care for the dogs,” Beglin said. “He was distant and calm. There was no emotion or physical shaking, and no sign of him being distraught.”

The boy was rushed to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and doctors determine he had severe head injuries, including a skull fracture, severe brain swelling and bruising.

Doctors said the injuries were not consistent with a fall down two steps that happened a few days before his arrival at the hospital on Aug. 13, 2005, Beglin told jurors. She said several doctors will testify that the child’s injuries were consistent with being shaken or slammed on the same day that he was hospitalized.

“This devastating brain injury was not accidental – it was a malicious act,” Beglin said. “And the only person who could have and did inflict that injury was the defendant, Brian Dykstra.”

http://easterniowanewsnow.com/2011/1...loving-father/

[badfish76]

Jesus Christ Titty Fuck!

A soft squishy spot on top of the kids head and the parents continue on like nothing is going on.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCK!

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The prosecution continued to question medical professionals and aquaintances Brian Dykstra as he sat silently at his second-degree murder trial in Johnson County on Wednesday.
[...]

Retired nurse Joyce Osborn, who was staffing a health advice phone line at Mercy Iowa City and received a call from Dykstra on Aug. 10, was brought to the stand to recount what she was told about the toddler’s fall.

Osborn said that Dykstra reported that his son had fallen off a low stair at the home, hit his head on the floor and received a bruise on his cheek and knot on his head earlier in the day.

“He [Brian] said that he [Isaac] jumped up right away and seemed to be fine [after he fell],” she said.

According to Osborn, she became concerned by Dykstra’s description of the incident after he expressed worry about his son having a visible bruise.

A social worker was soon going to visit the home to check on the family, he allegedly told her.

“I thought that the call may have needed a doctor’s input,” Osborn said.

The next day a follow-up call was conducted by Registered Nurse Sue Kuntz. Lisa Dykstra picked up the telephone and reported that Isaac seemed to be fine.

The conversation ended after approximately five minutes and Kuntz said that she did not feel there was a reason to be concerned about Isaac’s well being.

Former adoption specialist Hilary Condon testified that she felt no reason to be concerned for Isaac’s safety when she made the visit to the Dykstra’s Iowa City home on Friday, Aug. 12.

“[Isaac] seemed secure with the Dykstras and [seemed] to be doing very well…[he] was affectionate and went to both of his parents willingly,”she said.

Close friend Luke Haverhals also took the stand, stating that Isaac was a “happy kid” who showed no obvious signs of serious injury when he saw him that Friday evening.

Haverhals said that when he went to the hospital the following day, Dykstra’s demeanor, described as being “un-distressed” by a first responder during Tuesday’s testimony, was one of shock and grief.

“Sometimes [Brian] was staring off and sometimes he was sobbing,” he said.

Isaac was pronounced brain dead the next day, Aug. 14, and later died.

The prosecution plans to bring several additional medical experts to the stand during Thursday’s proceedings to give their opinions about how the boy may have received his injuries.

http://easterniowanewsnow.com/2011/10/26/150765/

Those are prosecution witnesses? They sound more like defense ones to me.

[Hellsbells]

Jury acquits SC man in baby's death in Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa - After spending the last six years under a cloud of suspicion in connection with the 2005 death of his 21-month-old son Isaac, Brian Dykstra on Thursday was exonerated and – his former wife said – finally allowed to mourn.

“This means we can finally grieve our son,” a teary-eyed Lisa DeWaard said after hearing the not guilty verdict in her ex-husband’s trial. “It’s been six very very long years.”

A 12-member jury found Dykstra, 35, not guilty of second-degree murder at 2:30 p.m. Thursday after deliberating about eight hours and determining that he did not cause the severe head injuries that took Isaac’s life on Aug. 14, 2005.

Immediately after hearing the verdict, Dykstra – who had been mostly stoic throughout the two-week trial – began weeping and buried his face in the shoulder of his attorney Leon Spies.

Sobs also erupted from the large group of family members and friends who were gathered in the courtroom.

“Oh my gosh,” Dykstra said under his breath.

“Thank God,” DeWaard said. “I’m elated.”

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Iowa-...133162088.html

[princessgrandma]

OK, so the baby got brain dead on his own, or after a fall?

I don't know. It doesn't sound right.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

OK, so the baby got brain dead on his own, or after a fall?

I don't know. It doesn't sound right.

A brain (inflicted or accidental injury, or natural causes) can slowly bleed and cause death. There's a documented injury days before the baby died. If the jury could not determine, based on the evidence, that a there was a crime involved, they have to acquit. It does sound fishy, but that alone isn't enough. I would have had to hear the full testimony to truthfully say which way I thought it happened.

Hopefully, the jury got it right.

Attorneys prosecuting Dykstra, 35, in the August 2005 death of his 21-month-old son Isaac rested their case on Friday after calling numerous doctors who worked on the child and said his injuries had to have occurred by blunt force trauma on the day he was rushed to the hospital.

But Janice Ophoven, a pediatric forensic pathologist out of Minnesota, said Dykstra’s explanation that his son fell down two stairs three days before he was rushed to the hospital on Aug. 13, 2005 is plausible.

“Even though (Isaac) could walk and eat and sleep, could he do that with all the medical problems he was having?” Dykstra’s defense attorney Leon Spies asked Ophoven.

“Yes,” she said, adding that it’s “not possible to say (Isaac) died of inflicted injuries.”
[...]

http://thegazette.com/2011/10/31/med...om-short-fall/

Dykstra testified that the injuries that took his son’s life developed from the short fall on Aug. 10. Dykstra said he was in the kitchen on Aug. 13 when he heard his son cry and did not witness any traumatic event that preceded his 911 call.

During closing arguments this morning, Dykstra’s defense attorney, Leon Spies, told jurors that the “best scientific minds,” including the state medical examiner, have concluded that it’s “impossible to say that Brian Dykstra is a murder.”

“There is nothing in this case that is inconsistent with this tragedy being exactly what it is,” Spies said. “A tragedy. An accident.”

After hearing closing arguments from both sides, 12 jurors began deliberating Dykstra’s fate. He is charged with second-degree murder, which requires the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Dykstra inflicted fatal injuries on Isaac with “malice aforethought.”

Jurors also could find Dykstra guilty of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, which means he recklessly inflicted the fatal injuries on Isaac, but did not do it with malice.

During closing arguments, Lahey reminded jurors about earlier bruising that doctors noticed on Isaac after the Dykstras adopted him from Russia in May 2005. And Lahey pointed out inconsistencies in Dykstra’s stories about what happened on Aug. 13 around the time he called 911.

“We don’t know how many times he slammed his head down,” Lahey said. “We don’t know how many times he shook him.”

But Spies talked to jurors about the quality of Dykstra’s character – about his dream to be a dad and the witnesses who testified to him being a loving father.

Spies stressed that several doctors and experts said toddlers can die from injuries suffered in short falls that develop over several days.

“It’s not fair to judge Brian on the statistics that death from a stairway fall is rare,” Spies said. “We don’t take comfort in the mysteries of this case.”

But, Spies said, if there are doubts, “they have to be resolved in Brian’s favor.”

http://thegazette.com/2011/11/02/def...y-an-accident/