Testimony in the trial of a woman accused of injuring a child at an unlicensed day care center that she operated out of her home began Friday with the child's parents tearfully describing the day their daughter fell limp from brain injuries while under the College Station woman's care.
Dana Rene Munyon could face up to 99 years in prison if found guilty. Authorities said she caused severe head trauma to 14-month-old Alexis Verzal, who her parents said is unable to walk and has problems with her vision because of the injuries.
Tiffany and Brandon Verzal told prosecutors that they dropped off their daughter at Munyon's home on the morning of April 3, 2008. Less than an hour later, Tiffany Verzal received a call from Munyon.
"Rene said something had happened to Alexis, that she had gone limp and she had called for an ambulance and to come right there," Verzal said.
The toddler was rushed to College Station Medical Center and eventually flown to Scott & White Hospital in Temple. Doctors put her in an induced coma to deal with bleeding in her brain.
"They had drilled a hole in her head to relieve the pressure on her brain, and she was covered in tubes and limp," Tiffany Verzal said, describing the first time she saw her.
The child was eventually taken to a hospital in Lincoln, Neb., where the family later moved to help with her rehabilitation. She currently undergoes about five therapy sessions a day, her mother said.
In the first day of testimony, prosecutors didn't attempt to show what happened to Alexis Verzal at Munyon's house on the day in question, but they tried to establish that the injuries did occur there.
Brandon and Tiffany Verzal said their daughter was in a happy mood before they dropped her off at Munyon's home -- she was running around the house for the first time in her life.
"We were laughing and couldn't believe that she could run that fast," Tiffany Verzal said.
Munyon's defense attorney, Craig Greaves, on the other hand, seemed to suggest that the infant's injuries could have occurred hours, or even a few days, earlier.
He asked jurors in his opening statement to consider other possibilities and not simply look for someone to punish because something tragic happened to a child.
"Are there other possibilities," he asked. "Are there other possible explanations? I am scared you will focus on the child. A child is injured -- be it by an act of God, intentionally or accidentally -- and someone has got to pay. That is human nature, but that is not what we are here for. I beg you to stay focused on what we are here for."
Prosecutors also attempted to show that Munyon was under stress when the injuries occurred -- possibly to suggest that she lost control and injured the child.
Tiffany Verzal testified that Munyon had complained that Alexis was going through a phase in which she would scream when she didn't get her way. She also said that she had noticed diaper rash on her daughter for the first time a few weeks before the injuries were suffered.
Earlier in the week, Alexis Verzal had bruises on her arm and a cut on her chin, which Munyon said came from when she accidentally hit the child with a closet door, Tiffany Verzal said.
First Assistant District Attorney Shane Phelps also suggested that Munyon was worried about money problems and concerned that her husband was cheating on her.
Munyon's husband, Brent Munyon, disputed those claims.
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