Springer trial: 'What have I done?'

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - The trial of Anthony and Marsha Springer moved into the second phase when the defense began outlining their case that no crime was committed that led to their daughter, Calista, dying in a fire as she was chained to a bed.

Calista suffocated as she was chained to her bed when the family's Centreville home burned in February 2008.

Tuesday morning, the trial resumed after a three-day break. A Michigan State Police investigator testified Marsha Springer told him she had been chaining Calista to her bed for just two days.

Calista's classmates, school and social workers already have testified Calista was saying for years that she was being chained to her bed at night.

Detective Sgt. Mike Scott said Marsha Springer also told him she tried to put out the fire with an extingisher but couldn't pull the pin out to make it work. Crime scene techs have testified they found no fire extinguisher in the gutted home.

Scott also testified Marsha Springer told him Calista would bite and punch herself, throw herself into a wall and that medication she was given didn't work.

The defense is trying to show the chaining was necessary and that the Springers only were trying to protect Calista from herself.

At the end of his interview with her, Scott testified, Marsha Springer told him: "I'm so sorry, Oh God, what have I done?"

The prosecution rested shortly after the testimony of the trooper.

The Springer's defense began Tuesday afternoon. Child psychologist Susan Carter testified that children suffering from Pervasive Development Disorder -- as the Springers claim Calista had -- are unable to manage their own emotions, can hurt themselves and others and stay awake all night. Carter said parents of those children are faced with an enormous challenge, and sometimes burn out.

That's why the Springers claim they chained Calista, to keep her from harming herself.

But on cross-examination, Carter was grilled by the prosecutor. She was asked what she would say to parents if she was told they were restraining "their child to the bed with a dog-choke collar?"

"I would tell them that they needed to cease doing that," Carter said. "I would tell them to find other ways to keep their child safe and that short of that, I'd have to contact (Child Protective Services) because I'm a mandated reporter if I suspect abuse."

Asked if that would be abuse, Carter said: "It could be."

"These children are unable to manage their own emotions, so when they experience negative emotion of any kind, they will generally explode into rage," Carter said. "And that rage sometimes is directed at others and many times is directed at themselves."

She said parenting with children who have the disorder is an enormous challenge. Part of her testimony supported the Springers' contention that Calista was awake and wandering at night if she wasn't restrained.

24 Hour News 8 will continue to follow this trial.