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Sister of chained teen backs parents
Courtney Springer thinks parents did their best
Updated: Wednesday, 03 Feb 2010, 6:23 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 03 Feb 2010, 11:25 AM EST
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) -- Friends and family of Anthony and Marsha Springer testified Wednesday that their daughter, Calista, was a troubled child who needed intense supervision, the defense's attempt to refute earlier testimony in their murder, child abuse and torture trial.
Among the witnesses were Calista's sister, Courtney, and Marsha's sister, Barbara.
Courtney Springer, 16, told jurors she thinks her parents did their best with Calista.
The family contends Calista had to be chained to her bed because she suffered from a disorder that made her hard to manage and was a danger to herself. Courtney Springer agreed with that in Wednesday's testimony.
She also testified about letters Calista allegedly wrote about feeling she was in a prison at home and thought of killing herself.
"It's not her handwriting so I'm pretty sure it's not her letters," she testified.
Courtney also told the jury her parents were chaining her to the bed for only two days. But under cross examination, the prosecutor pointed out she had told a social worker four years before Calista died that she was being chained. She said she didn't remember that.
Calista died in a house fire. She was found chained to her bed.
Barbara Sawyer, Marsha's sister, testified Calista "would bang herself. If you told her she could not have something she would bang herself, pinch herself, pull her hair out. She would actually run her head into the wall or on the floor and make her nose bleed."
Sawyer also testified she saw Calista physically attack her sisters and hit and kick her mother.
More defense witnesses are scheduled to take the stand on Thursday. 24 Hour News 8 will continue to follow this trial.
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