LAFAYETTE, IN — Montrell Jolly decided Thursday, July 24, not to testify in his murder trial.
Jolly, 35, contemplated testifying, but when he learned that jurors would hear about his robbery conviction, he opted not to testify, Jolly confirmed while answering questions from his attorney, Caroline Burchett Briggs.
Jolly is charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury, aggravated battery and battery resulting in death of a person younger than 14. He also faces a sentence-enhancing charge of being a habitual offender.
Jolly told police he was forcing his cousin’s 4-year-old son, Ke’andre, to do wall squats on July 28, 2023, as punishment for putting his shoes on the wrong feet, when the boy collapsed.
Jolly told police and 911 dispatchers that the boy had a seizure. But evidence is that Ke’andre was intensely shaken, leaving him with traumatic head injury and a swollen brain, which killed him. He died Aug. 1, 2023.
The prosecutors rested their case just before noon Wednesday, and Jolly’s defense started in the afternoon.
On Wednesday morning, Dr. Daniel Davis, a pathologist in Eugene, Oregon, testified that he reviewed Ke’andre’s records, scans and photographs.
He agreed that brain swelling from acceleration/deceleration injuries caused the boy’s death. But when deputy prosecutor Cassidy Laux asked whether hitting Ke’andre’s head into a wall would cause the deceleration injuries, Davis said he doubted it because there was not sign of contusions on the skull. However, he noted that two pieces of the skull had been removed in emergency surgery to allow the brain to swell.
Davis also said he did not notice bruising on the top of Ke’andre’s head. But photos presented Wednesday showed a patterned bruising on the boy’s head, and Dr. Tara Holloran testified that the bruising was consistent with being hit by something, perhaps the wire baskets police found at Jolly’s apartment at 825 N. 13th St.
Davis also testified that he noticed several older, healing bruises in the photos that indicated possible prior abuse.
Under cross examination, Davis admitted that his observations about the older bruises came from photos. He also noted that doctors at Riley Hospital for Children and the pathologist who did the autopsy did not note in their reports about older bruises that were healing.
It is possible that the jurors might receive the case and begin deliberations by the afternoon.
If he is convicted, the jurors will enter a second phase of the trial to determine whether Jolly is a habitual offender.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette man will not testify in his murder trial; jurors likely to get the case Thursday
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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