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The forensic pathologist, sitting in the witness stand, snapped his fingers.
That's how fast Savannah Johnson's brain would have swollen after her skull was fractured, Dr. Wayne K. Ross told a Lancaster jury today.
While jurors looked at large color photographs of the 2-month-old baby's head, Ross explained the nine skull fractures and other injuries he noted during the child's autopsy in November 2007.
Savannah's father, Owen Johnson, is on trial in Lancaster County Court, accused of killing his daughter.
Prosecutors allege that Johnson, 25, beat his baby against a coffee table inside his Mount Joy home during a five-minute period when he was alone and feeding the child on Nov. 14, 2007.
Johnson, who is deaf, grimaced as he watched an interpreter relay the pathologist's description this morning.
Several red bruise marks were visible on top of the baby's head, Ross noted, pointing to the picture.
And on the side of her head, Ross said, pointing to another picture, another bruise was clearly visible near her hairline.
But when he performed the autopsy and looked at the skull, Ross continued, he found seven fractures on the back of her head and two more fractures on top.
Additionally, Ross said, he found "eight different areas of bruising to the head."
Defense attorney John I. McMahon has suggested the possibly the baby's mother, Marla Rabenstein, caused the injuries to the child and that there was a communication breakdown with police and ambulance personnel since neither parent can hear.
Both Johnson and Rabenstein have denied hurting their baby.
Before testimony began today, Judge Dennis Reinaker repeated a warning he has issued every day during the trial, telling deaf and hearing impaired spectators not to use sign language to communicate with each other during the proceedings.
Johnson is surrounded by five sign language interpreters.
Two teams of two interpreters use sign language to make sure Johnson is aware of all the discussion and testimony in the courtroom.
A fifth interpreter sits beside him, communicating any questions or comments between Johnson and his defense attorney.
On the night of the incident, Johnson reportedly carried the limp child to Rabenstein, 19, who was in the kitchen. She ran to a neighbor's house for help.
The neighbors called 911 and went to the home to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the child until ambulance personnel arrived.
Testimony from police, neighbors and the child's mother haven't included recollections of Johnson beating the girl — only that he was with her when she became unconscious and unresponsive.
The young parents told police the baby was out of sorts and sleepy all day before she became unresponsive that night.
Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield has argued Johnson is the killer because the baby would have gone limp immediately after sustaining bruises and fractures to the skull and a severed spinal cord.
On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Robert Tamburo, who cared for the infant at Hershey Medical Center, testified the brain swelling can take up to 96 hours to manifest itself.
During cross-examination from the defense attorney, Tamburo said a prior head injury could have caused the lethargy that was observed by the parents hours before Savannah went into cardiac arrest.
Also on Tuesday, McMahon questioned Mount Joy police Detective Joseph Goody about the way he handled the case.
McMahon suggested that Goody suspected Johnson to be involved in the girl's death before he even arrived at the Johnson home at 495 S. Plum St.
Goody countered that he found out, through phone conversations, that Johnson was the last one holding the child and based on his experience, the last person holding a child in such a case is typically the culprit.
Johnson gave a statement to police and was given back a written version for review. He looked over it, but gave it back before he read it, Goody said.
The detective said the statement was too long to be read in the brief time Johnson looked at it.
McMahon argued Johnson didn't read it because he couldn't.
Staff writer Janet Kelley can be reached at jkelley@LNPnews.com or 481-6026.
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