Babysitter On Trial

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Speaker 4 I tell my friends, do not allow your children to babysit. You never know what might happen.

Speaker 5 It was a friendly babysitting arrangement between neighbors.

Speaker 6 I love kids. I've always watched kids and loved being around kids.

Speaker 5 Chris was as reliable as they come.

Speaker 6 I was a student. I don't think I've ever lost my temper in my life.
I'm a very mellow guy.

Speaker 5 And the Woodruffs couldn't have been happier.

Speaker 8 He seemed like a responsible kid to me, and I liked him.

Speaker 5 But that would all change one afternoon.

Speaker 3 My two-year-old's not breathing.

Speaker 5 When little Emily became desperately ill.

Speaker 3 I'm babysitting for her. She's not breathing.

Speaker 10 Emily quit breathing.

Speaker 5 Chris says he tried to save her.

Speaker 3 You want to quit kicking off?

Speaker 3 Yes, okay.

Speaker 4 My child had done something very heroic.

Speaker 5 Harold Dow on why the police just didn't see it that way.

Speaker 7 This case has never been a close call in my mind.

Speaker 5 Now, this high school honor student is charged with murder.

Speaker 11 Any adolescent is capable of shaking the child hard enough to kill him.

Speaker 5 48 hours investigates.

Speaker 7 Did you have anything to do with Emily's death?

Speaker 6 I would never, ever have any thoughts about hurting Emily.

Speaker 5 The babysitter.

Speaker 12 Welcome to 48 Hours Investigates. I'm Leslie Stahl.
At one time or another, every parent has to leave the kids with a babysitter. You close the door behind you and hope you've made the right choice.

Speaker 12 In this case, the arrangement between two families, the Woodruffs and the Ruths, seemed to be working fine for everybody until the tragic events that would leave a toddler dead and a teenage babysitter accused.

Speaker 12 Harold Dow reports on a nightmare shared by two families. Both say they're seeking justice.
It's hard to believe it all happened between friends.

Speaker 7 16-year-old Chris Ruth is the kind of kid you'd like to have living next door.

Speaker 6 I don't mean like toot my own horn or anything, but

Speaker 6 I was a good kid.

Speaker 7 I was an A student, you know.

Speaker 6 I never broke any laws or anything, never gotten in any trouble at school. I don't think I've ever lost my temper in my life.
I'm a very

Speaker 6 calm-mannered, very mellow guy.

Speaker 7 Now, this mild-mannered teenager is about to find out if he will spend the rest of his life living in prison.

Speaker 4 I think this was a series of tragedies that fell one upon another

Speaker 4 and I think that Christopher happens to be the person who was

Speaker 4 caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Speaker 7 Chris stands accused of sexually assaulting 23-month-old Emily Woodruff and then shaking the toddler to death.

Speaker 7 It doesn't get any worse than that, does it?

Speaker 3 No.

Speaker 13 No. Not at all.

Speaker 7 For Sissy and Charlie Ruth, Chris's parents, the fate of their son rests in the hands of 12 strangers in a jury box.

Speaker 4 And I try to be as realistic as I can that they may not see it our way, but I'll fight forever to prove that he's innocent.

Speaker 7 And it all has to do with what seemed at the time to be a perfectly safe agreement between two families, a babysitting arrangement.

Speaker 4 I just shudder when any of my friends talk about their children babysitting because we know what can happen. It can take away your whole life.

Speaker 7 Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Speaker 7 A picture-perfect small suburban town about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta.

Speaker 13 Sip straight. There we go.
Now you remember, Cameron, you look over here and smile at me.

Speaker 7 And it's the perfect place to raise a family.

Speaker 11 Cameron, good, one more time.

Speaker 7 Charlie is a professional photographer.

Speaker 7 Daughter Emily plays soccer on Saturdays.

Speaker 7 And there's football for Chris. Chris, you hope to have a championship trophy up in this case one of these days?

Speaker 6 Definitely.

Speaker 6 Oh, state championships.

Speaker 14 Here we come.

Speaker 7 Football, huh?

Speaker 6 Oh, yes, sir.

Speaker 7 Right off the town square, Sissy runs a kids' clothing store.

Speaker 15 Do you like this one? I think so.

Speaker 3 All right, let's go see. Woo!

Speaker 7 One day in the spring of 2000, a mother of two walked into Sissy's store. Her name was Kim Woodruff.

Speaker 4 She's a very friendly,

Speaker 4 outgoing lady.

Speaker 8 I was on the square in Lawrenceville shopping.

Speaker 4 She noticed my help-wanted sign and we talked about it and she hired me. So she started working part-time and ended up up being a full-time employee.

Speaker 7 Did you become good friends?

Speaker 3 Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 It was almost like a family business and she was a part of the family.

Speaker 7 Kim and her husband Lewis were raising two toddlers, three-year-old Hunter and almost two-year-old Emily.

Speaker 8 She was beautiful.

Speaker 10 And Hunter was a miracle boy.

Speaker 7 All kids are a joy, but especially for the Woodruffs. They'd been through years of fertility problems.

Speaker 10 We had tried for eight years and he was a miracle to us because we'd waited so long. Three months later we find out she's pregnant again after he was born.

Speaker 16 It was like wow this is such a great gift.

Speaker 7 Lewis is a traveling salesman.

Speaker 17 Is Todd in?

Speaker 10 Would you tell him Lewis called?

Speaker 18 They bought this company about four years ago.

Speaker 7 It's out of Italy. He sells paint spray guns.
It's sweet.

Speaker 10 There's nothing else like it on the market.

Speaker 19 You like that?

Speaker 20 Oh, he's going now.

Speaker 7 Like many working families, the Woodruffs had daycare issues. Lewis was on the road a lot, and by the summer of 2001, Kim was working full-time here at Sissy Ruth's store.

Speaker 7 So the Woodruffs needed a babysitter, someone they could trust. Someone like Chris Ruth.

Speaker 4 Christopher was at the store helping me with different things, and she's asked me if I thought it would be okay if she asked him if he wanted to babysit.

Speaker 8 And he seemed like a responsible kid to me, and I liked him. I liked both of her children.

Speaker 4 I thought it was fine, but I told her, I said, you're going to to have to ask him.

Speaker 4 And when she did, he said, well, that'd be pretty neat.

Speaker 7 And so Chris began to babysit for the Woodruffs on a regular basis, taking care of Hutter and Emily at the Woodruffs house.

Speaker 3 I love kids.

Speaker 6 I've always watched kids and loved being around kids.

Speaker 8 I'd watched him interact with them and they seemed to like him.

Speaker 7 Everyone was very happy with the way it was working.

Speaker 13 I was tickled pink that we were, I thought, teaching him some

Speaker 10 work ethic.

Speaker 4 But we were also sure of his ability to take care of children.

Speaker 7 And then on July 25th, 2001, something terrible happened to Emily Woodruff.

Speaker 3 My two-year-old's not breathing.

Speaker 3 I'm babysitting for her. She's not breathing.

Speaker 10 Emily quit breathing.

Speaker 7 When did you realize that Christopher was in some very, very serious trouble?

Speaker 13 We found out about it at

Speaker 3 11 o'clock news.

Speaker 13 Showed his picture, said the police were looking for Christopher Scott Ruth.

Speaker 13 He's being charged with murder and child molestation.

Speaker 7 23-month-old Emily Woodruff seemed perfectly fine when her mother Kim left for work on the morning of July 25th, 2001.

Speaker 8 I gave her apple juice and I set her on the couch. I told her I loved her, gave her a hug and kiss, and left.

Speaker 7 But Emily's teenage babysitter, Chris Ruth, says the toddler was obviously sick.

Speaker 6 She was crying and she looked very tired.

Speaker 7 What happened next was a nightmare for the families of both children. Emily, who had battled a stomach virus just a few days earlier, began to throw up again.

Speaker 7 And Chris, left alone with the sick toddler and her three-year-old brother, was soon overwhelmed.

Speaker 10 So I called the house at 12 o'clock and Christopher answered. He said, you know, Emily got sick.

Speaker 8 And I said, well, then I'm coming home. And he said, well, no, don't do that.
She's asleep.

Speaker 6 I didn't want to let her down, and I thought I could handle it.

Speaker 7 When Emily woke up, Chris tried to feed her.

Speaker 6 I gave Emily a cracker, and she started acting very tired. Like, you know, that's when I heard

Speaker 6 the kind of weird coughing, gurgling noise. She wasn't breathing.

Speaker 7 What did you do?

Speaker 6 You know, after I patted on her back and nothing happened, I...

Speaker 6 Just said, oh, hold on. And I picked her up and put her in the middle of the floor and immediately, you know, called 911.

Speaker 3 My two-year-old's not breathing.

Speaker 3 I'm babysitting for her. She's not breathing.
Do you want to attempt DPR?

Speaker 3 Yes. Okay, I'm going to tell you what to do.
Okay, listen carefully. Pitch the nose close and completely cover her mouth with your mouth.

Speaker 6 I kind of went into an

Speaker 6 autopilot.

Speaker 3 You must continue giving her mouth to mouth. You want to get one breath every three seconds.

Speaker 6 And I did that for what seemed like forever until the paramedics got there.

Speaker 22 Her respirations had gotten down to approximately two a minute.

Speaker 7 Paramedic Pennell Ellis reached Emily first.

Speaker 22 We knew we needed to secure her airway and breathe for her.

Speaker 13 Christopher called me in a panic and he said, go get Miss Kim. Emily stopped breathing.
I had to call 911.

Speaker 7 Charlie Ruth raced from his photography studio to his wife's clothing store.

Speaker 4 And we hear Charlie banging on the back door. Get Kim, put her in your car, and go to her house.

Speaker 8 It scared us.

Speaker 4 I was in a total panic. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 I don't even remember that trip except for thinking, I've got to get there. I've got to get there.

Speaker 7 So you arrive home. What's the first thing you see?

Speaker 8 Paramedics and fire trucks in my driveway. Okay.
My door's standing wide open.

Speaker 16 Your feelings.

Speaker 8 I jump out of my car, run in my house.

Speaker 7 What are you thinking? Worried.

Speaker 8 Christopher is white as a sheet, sitting in a chair in our dining room.

Speaker 4 And Christopher was sitting in a chair talking to a paramedic.

Speaker 8 So I look at the paramedic, and the paramedic said, your babysitter did everything he's supposed to do.

Speaker 16 Somebody told me that he had done CPR on her and really tried to save her.

Speaker 4 Christopher just sat in the chair.

Speaker 4 With

Speaker 4 his head in his hands.

Speaker 8 I look over at Christopher and Christopher immediately said, I'm sorry, Miss Kim.

Speaker 8 And I and I said, for what? You saved my little girl's life. And he said, I'm just sorry.

Speaker 6 Honestly, I couldn't think of anything else to say. I did not know what to say to her.

Speaker 7 What do you think he was telling you?

Speaker 8 He's sorry, I think that things got carried away. And that, you know, that she got hurt.

Speaker 7 Emily was in trouble.

Speaker 21 Oh, yeah, she was in serious trouble.

Speaker 22 When we got en route to the hospital, we noticed that her heart rate went down.

Speaker 7 When Emily arrived at the hospital, her condition was desperate.

Speaker 21 They removed the diaper.

Speaker 22 It appeared that something was wrong.

Speaker 7 What Pennell Ellis saw was possible evidence of sexual assault.

Speaker 18 She was violated.

Speaker 7 And it was discovered Emily had a brain injury.

Speaker 8 The neurologist told me that the swelling in her brain was equivalent of falling out of a four-story building or being in a car accident without a seatbelt and hitting a tree going 45 miles an hour.

Speaker 10 And the thing that really concerns us is that her vagina's torn and her hymen's been pierced.

Speaker 7 The police were alerted. Their suspicion, Emily had been sexually assaulted and then shaken to death.
They immediately began to question Kim and Lewis Woodruff.

Speaker 25 You're the mother, he's the father, and I need to shoot straight with you, okay?

Speaker 26 One of two people

Speaker 25 injured your little girl's vagina. It was either your husband or it was Chris.
And one of the two shook the baby within the last 24 hours.

Speaker 8 It's hard for me to comprehend that anybody could hurt another human being, especially a baby.

Speaker 26 Has there ever been any

Speaker 26 inappropriate acts between you and your daughter?

Speaker 7 God knows. No.

Speaker 28 No.

Speaker 18 Immediately you could just go, Christopher.

Speaker 7 The roofs refused to allow the police to talk to Chris.

Speaker 4 They wanted to put him in a room and play that good cop, bad cop thing with him.

Speaker 13 Without an attorney, without anybody friendly to him.

Speaker 4 I'm not stupid.

Speaker 8 I didn't understand that. I thought, first of all, if you're innocent, why do you have to have an attorney present?

Speaker 7 Then, just two days later, July 27th, Emily Woodruff was pronounced dead.

Speaker 10 I had gone into the room to stand there beside her on the bed. I came back out and I told Kim, I said, Kim, man, she's gone.

Speaker 10 She's gone.

Speaker 18 I just saw her eyes.

Speaker 10 She's not there.

Speaker 11 She had all of the findings that are consistent with a child that has been shaken.

Speaker 7 Gwinnett County medical examiner Steve Dunton performed the autopsy. So you're saying that Emily Woodruff died from shaken baby syndrome? Yes.

Speaker 7 How hard do you have to shake a child in order to cause death?

Speaker 11 Well, the child would have to be shaken so hard that the child's head is snapping back and forth, and particularly if there's a rotation involved. At some point, the child's going to be unable to

Speaker 11 control its head movement, and that's when the damage happens.

Speaker 7 How old, how strong do you have to be in order to cause this kind of damage? At the time, Chris Ruth was only 14 years old.

Speaker 11 Any adolescent is capable of shaking the child hard enough to kill them.

Speaker 14 These are mostly autopsy pictures and slides from blood work, and these describe some of the injuries.

Speaker 7 Danny Porter, the district attorney for Gwinnett County, had heard enough.

Speaker 28 I mean you've got a medical examiner telling you it's shaking baby. You've got an EMT who said that he saw gaping vaginal wounds.
And you've got a defendant who won't talk to you,

Speaker 28 who's the only one who was with the child at the time of its injuries.

Speaker 7 It wasn't a close call in your mind.

Speaker 28 This case has never been a close call in my mind.

Speaker 7 Just one week after Emily died, Chris Ruth was arrested. And even though he had yet to enter the ninth grade, 14-year-old Chris was charged as an adult.

Speaker 8 I just couldn't believe he would do that.

Speaker 8 I just, I just, I just trusted him. I just didn't think that he would hurt my children.

Speaker 7 But Chris's parents believed their son was being victimized by a rush to judgment.

Speaker 13 It's almost like

Speaker 13 nobody is searching for the truth in this whole story.

Speaker 7 Could this 14-year-old honor student, a boy who says he loves children, really be guilty of such an unspeakable crime?

Speaker 6 I'm supposed to be in high school. I'm supposed to be getting my driver's license.

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Speaker 6 I didn't do anything. I'm not supposed to be here.

Speaker 6 I was away from my family.

Speaker 6 I'm in an orange jumpsuit

Speaker 6 in a concrete room.

Speaker 6 I shouldn't be here.

Speaker 16 For 361 days.

Speaker 6 Four days short of a year.

Speaker 7 This cell was Chris Ruth's home.

Speaker 6 I'm supposed to be in high school, but I'm sitting in here.

Speaker 6 I got to see my parents two times a week for two hours.

Speaker 7 A week after Emily Woodruff died, Chris had been arrested for sexually assaulting and then killing her. Denied bail, Chris was sent here.

Speaker 7 He had just turned 15.

Speaker 4 He was treated like a yard dog criminal.

Speaker 7 And for good reason, says Gwinnett County DA Danny Porter.

Speaker 28 The likelihood of Ruth coming into contact with other children presented a danger to the community, and that was the basis of our position.

Speaker 7 Kim Woodruff reluctantly began to agree that the boy she trusted to babysit her daughter had actually killed her.

Speaker 8 I had a hard time with it. I had a hard time thinking that someone I thought I knew so well could do something so bad.

Speaker 7 The Woodruffs couldn't ignore what the evidence suggested. Their daughter Emily died from acute head trauma and there were signs of a possible sexual assault.

Speaker 7 Then they remembered a conversation they had with Chris a week before Emily's death.

Speaker 8 He said, Miss Kemp, there's some bruises on Emily's face. Where did that come from? And I said, I don't know anything about that.

Speaker 7 It was a conversation they wished they had paid more attention to.

Speaker 18 to you look back and you just go

Speaker 10 why why didn't i just say never again hindsight

Speaker 7 two bruises could be seen one on each of her temples i mean i just didn't think anything about it and especially because christopher brought it to my attention i never thought it would be something he would do that same week emily had been throwing up a lot and she had a persistent fever.

Speaker 7 So Lewis took Emily to a hospital emergency room where the doctor determined that Emily had a stomach virus.

Speaker 7 But the doctor also noticed the bruises and he thought they might be evidence of child abuse.

Speaker 10 He goes, she's got a stomach virus, but those are finger marks. These bruises are finger marks.

Speaker 8 The doctor said it was from a hand. I knew I didn't do it, and I knew Lewis didn't do it.

Speaker 7 As required by law, the doctor reported what he saw to the Georgia Child Protection Agency. But the agency failed to investigate, and Emily's case fell through the cracks.

Speaker 8 We tried to contact them. They didn't answer the phone.

Speaker 7 The Woodruffs convinced themselves the doctor had simply overreacted.

Speaker 8 Monday night I get a telephone call from Christopher and he said, Miss Kim, do you need me to babysit the children tomorrow? I said, well, let's give her one more day.

Speaker 8 She's much, much better. She hasn't been sick in a couple days.

Speaker 7 And so, two days later, the day Emily stopped breathing, Chris was once again babysitting for the Woodruffs.

Speaker 7 Knowing what you knew, how did it come to be that Chris would babysit again?

Speaker 8 I didn't think he did it. I didn't think he did it.
I never dreamed it was him, or I wouldn't have had him there. No.

Speaker 4 Blaming Christopher allows her the luxury of not taking responsibility for what happened to Emily.

Speaker 7 Sissy and Charlie Ruth are absolutely sure their son is innocent.

Speaker 4 This is a child who

Speaker 4 won't let you kill bugs. He can't even stand for the dogs to be disciplined.
I mean, I know I'm his mom, and I can sit her, and I can tell you this. I've never seen him blow his cool.

Speaker 7 And they believe police jumped to the conclusion that Chris was guilty.

Speaker 27 I'm asking these questions directly because we're both adults here.

Speaker 26 Right. We know what we're dealing with.

Speaker 26 How do you feel knowing that he did that to your daughter?

Speaker 27 He needs to get what he deserves.

Speaker 25 I don't suspect you. No.
I really do suspect Christopher.

Speaker 17 He was the last one one seen with her

Speaker 13 he's the one that got thrown up on just hours after emily was rushed to the hospital the police were already targeting chris i have never been more insulted by a police officer in my life is what i saw in that videotape chris is the only person that could have i just can't believe anybody would do that to her what do you think about this christopher sticking his finger

Speaker 13 between her legs and then killing your little girl.

Speaker 26 Looking back on him after knowing that this happened to your little girl, did you see anything among her?

Speaker 13 He never considered another option. Either the parents did it or the 14-year-old babysitter did it.
He never once looked at the third option and that was that God called her home.

Speaker 7 Sissy and Charlie Ruth believe what happened to Emily had nothing to do with Chris. That Emily was very, very sick.
Much sicker than just a simple stomach bug.

Speaker 4 And had we had any concept of how sick Emily was, guaranteed Christopher would never have been there.

Speaker 4 Yeah, she's just not feeling very well. Well, that isn't what was going on.
She was vomiting day after day after day,

Speaker 4 unchecked.

Speaker 7 The idea that Emily was extremely ill, fatally ill, that her death had nothing at all to do with being shaken, would become the cornerstone of Chris's defense.

Speaker 4 Just try to envision him blowing his cool because she threw up on him or because she was crying or because she was whining.

Speaker 4 It just wouldn't happen.

Speaker 7 After spending nearly a year in detention, Chris is allowed to go home to prepare for trial. He's placed under house arrest.
and has to wear an ankle monitor.

Speaker 6 It sounded crazy to me, you know, that they would make some allegations like that, that something had happened to Emily, because I knew I was with her, I knew nothing happened to her.

Speaker 7 For the record, because I have to ask this question: Did you have anything to do with Emily's death?

Speaker 6 Not in the least. I would never, ever have any thoughts about hurting Emily.

Speaker 7 Ever. Possible at one point you could have lost your temper and shook her?

Speaker 6 Never.

Speaker 7 Chris's future hangs in the balance. Will it be freedom or life in prison?

Speaker 21 When that case was not properly diagnosed on Thursday, July the 19th, the nightmares for two families started.

Speaker 12 Is it possible that Chris Ruth, a young man so well-liked and who seems so reliable, could be guilty of murdering a toddler? Absolutely, if you ask the parents of Emily Woodruff.

Speaker 12 They're convinced that Chris, their babysitter, lost his cool and caused their daughter's fatal injuries. Prosecutors say the medical evidence is a lock.

Speaker 12 But to hear Chris's parents tell it, their son, who could be facing life in prison, is a victim of a rush to judgment. His defense team has a radically different explanation of what happened to Emily.

Speaker 12 But as dramatic as their theory is, even more startling is the identity of the witness they're counting on to make their case. Here again is Harold Dow.

Speaker 4 We have to win at all all costs.

Speaker 4 And the cost to us will be our son's life.

Speaker 7 Prosecutors accuse Christopher Ruth of the most heinous of crimes.

Speaker 19 16-year-old Christopher Ruth is charged with sexually assaulting and killing two-year-old Emily Woodruff.

Speaker 7 For a year and a half, the Ruth family has prepared for trial and tried to prepare for the worst. In this case, the jurors will have to decide whether there was a murder at all.

Speaker 13 We could go in there tomorrow and he could be found guilty guilty and they will take you right out of the courtroom and we will never be able to touch him again.

Speaker 8 It's an accusation of the day.

Speaker 15 It's like, oh, something happened to that child.

Speaker 4 It must be shaken baby syndrome.

Speaker 4 It turned into a witch hunt.

Speaker 21 You start flat on your back in these kinds of cases.

Speaker 7 Doug Peters is Chris's lead attorney. He knows that to keep Chris out of prison, he's going to have to take some big chances.

Speaker 21 This is an all-or-nothing case here. We have not requested any type of manslaughter or anything like that.
He either is guilty of murder or nothing.

Speaker 7 For Chris Ruth, now 16 years old, the stakes couldn't be higher.

Speaker 3 Are we ready?

Speaker 3 Yep.

Speaker 6 Not everybody is a child molester. Not everybody is a baby killer.

Speaker 3 All right, come on, sleep.

Speaker 7 Chris Ruth is finally ready to have his day in court.

Speaker 7 The prosecution is up first.

Speaker 16 Calling witness.

Speaker 7 And its key witness wastes no time telling the jury what he thinks happened to little Emily Woodruff.

Speaker 16 I felt that she died of a traumatic brain injury.

Speaker 7 Winnette County Medical Examiner Dr. Steve Dunton, who showed us how he believes Emily died, says it was no accident.

Speaker 20 Were you also able to form an opinion as to the manner of her death?

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 8 And what was that?

Speaker 23 Homicide.

Speaker 7 For four days, the jury hears from doctors, nurses, and paramedics who treated Emily. And they all agree that she was first sexually assaulted.

Speaker 22 Her vaginal opening was extremely big.

Speaker 7 And then she was shaken to death.

Speaker 16 I found evidence of extensive swelling of the brain.

Speaker 18 A force that caused the brain to move forward and backwards, and that kills the baby.

Speaker 7 Then Emily's mother, Kim, takes the stand.

Speaker 8 I fully trusted Christopher and more than that, I fully trusted his mother in recommending Christopher.

Speaker 8 I just never dreamed that anything would happen. There's something not right with him.
He's a sick boy and he needs some help.

Speaker 7 With medical experts and Emily's mother making the prosecution's case, the defense needs to counterattack and decides to make a high-risk move.

Speaker 8 Raise your right hand.

Speaker 7 Calling Chris Ruth to the stand.

Speaker 20 Did you cause the death of Emily Woodruff?

Speaker 16 No, ma'am, I did not.

Speaker 8 I was very surprised that they put him on the stand because he had never, he had been closed mouthed the whole time.

Speaker 7 For the very first time, Chris tells his side of the story.

Speaker 6 She was very, very sick looking.

Speaker 6 Very unhappy.

Speaker 16 She didn't look at all normal like she should be.

Speaker 7 And he relives that fateful day when Emily stopped breathing.

Speaker 6 I just saw her laying there and

Speaker 16 she wasn't breathing.

Speaker 6 I picked her up under her arms and I picked her up and sat her up and her head just

Speaker 3 her head just went limp.

Speaker 6 And I

Speaker 6 I said, Emily and sh she d

Speaker 7 It's emotional testimony, but what about the evidence of sexual assault?

Speaker 6 I had seen her s scratch between her legs before, but she was scratching really hard that day.

Speaker 7 Emily, in fact, had eczema.

Speaker 7 And it was possible, the defense says, she scratched herself hard enough to bleed and make it look like a case of sexual assault.

Speaker 9 There was not a tear anywhere in the vagina or the vaginal area of this child, according to Dr. Dunnton's report and the other report.
Only one doctor used the word tear.

Speaker 7 Defense witness Dr. Joseph Burton backs up Chris's claim.

Speaker 9 There is no definitive diagnostic evidence that would allow one to conclude that Emily had been sexually molested, digitally penetrated, or otherwise.

Speaker 7 Now, the defense must answer the most basic question. How did Emily die? Chris's lawyers have a surprising theory.
They say Emily was killed by a rare brain virus.

Speaker 7 But even more surprising than their theory is who they get to to explain it.

Speaker 16 I'm being paid by the state of Georgia to render my honest opinions. Contrary to the state of Georgia.
Which, if that's the way it is, it's the way it is.

Speaker 7 Dr. Chris Sperry is the chief medical examiner for the state of Georgia.

Speaker 7 The defense asked him to look at Emily's medical records, and he agreed to testify for Chris.

Speaker 16 Shaking is extremely rare as a cause of severe brain injury or death in children older than six months.

Speaker 7 Because he works for the state, Dr. Sperry's testimony presents a huge problem for the prosecution.

Speaker 7 So when he tells the jury what he thinks happened to Emily, this is, in my opinion, a natural disease process. The testimony has the ring of truth.

Speaker 16 I find it very unusual that if this child was shaken, that there was no evidence of any bruising on the chest wall or even any broken ribs.

Speaker 16 Emily Woodruff died as a consequence of irreversible brain damage. She did not die as a consequence of any abusive or inflicted injuries.

Speaker 7 Defense attorney Phyllis Miller hopes Sperry's willingness to risk his professional reputation will convince the jury that Emily died of natural causes.

Speaker 17 Thank God Dr.

Speaker 8 Sperry believed that telling the truth was more important than what he might have at stake.

Speaker 7 The testimony has the Ruths feeling confident.

Speaker 3 I heard it's going very good.

Speaker 29 It is.

Speaker 4 When I do get that sense of, oh man, yeah, we're going to win this thing. I try to remember my daughter saying to me, Mama, don't get cocky.

Speaker 16 Your job is now gonna begin.

Speaker 7 In closing arguments, both lawyers have a last chance to convince the jury. Christopher Ruth killed Emily.

Speaker 10 This is Emily on July 15th.

Speaker 32 Does that look like a sick little girl?

Speaker 31 This is not

Speaker 31 about Emily

Speaker 31 being sexually molested.

Speaker 31 It is not about Emily being shaken

Speaker 28 or slammed

Speaker 31 or hurt in any way.

Speaker 21 This is about Emily tragically passing away

Speaker 21 from a natural disease process.

Speaker 7 After a two-week trial, the jury begins its deliberation.

Speaker 15 The jury got this case just a few seconds ago.

Speaker 15 As soon as this jury reaches a verdict, we will bring that verdict to you.

Speaker 7 But before the jury reaches a verdict, it asks a stunning question.

Speaker 24 The question reads as follows: Is it possible for us to convict on count one and not count two, or do they go together?

Speaker 7 The jury seems ready to convict Chris Ruth on the most serious charge: count one:

Speaker 7 murder.

Speaker 16 My God,

Speaker 21 they could convict Christopher in this case, then it would be so wrong.

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Speaker 24 Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we are about to receive the verdict in this case.

Speaker 4 Please, please let them find the wisdom to get past whatever it is that's hanging them up. Please let them find wisdom and truth.

Speaker 13 He knows he didn't do anything wrong. He did everything he possibly knew how to save this little girl's life.

Speaker 6 Of course, the thoughts pop into your mind, you know, what if, what if the worst happens?

Speaker 7 Although he was just 14 years old at the time of his arrest, Chris Ruth has been tried as an adult and faces all the adult consequences.

Speaker 13 I think that has really been something that has just absolutely

Speaker 13 just tore my heart out. I mean, we're talking about a 14-year-old kid here.

Speaker 16 Before he took her life, he took her innocence.

Speaker 18 That should outrage you, folks.

Speaker 7 His parents have heard some harsh words against their son in the nearly two-week trial.

Speaker 7 But they've never had any doubts that he had anything to do with the tragic death of 23-month-old Emily Woodruff.

Speaker 13 Never. Never.
None None whatsoever.

Speaker 13 You would expect that out of Sissy and I to make that comment, but I can give you a list of about five or six hundred names that would tell you the exact same thing.

Speaker 7 The opinions of 12 jurors are all that matters now.

Speaker 24 I'm informed that the jury has reached a verdict. Is that correct?

Speaker 7 The jury has deliberated just eight hours to decide whether Chris goes to prison or if he goes free.

Speaker 24 As to count one,

Speaker 24 We the jury find the defendant not guilty of felony murder. As to count two,

Speaker 24 we the jury find the defendant not guilty of cruelty to children. As to count three, we the jury find the defendant not guilty of aggravated child molestation.

Speaker 24 And as to count four, we the jury find the defendant not guilty of aggravated sexual battery.

Speaker 10 Ladies and gentlemen, please calm down.

Speaker 7 For the Ruth family, it was a welcome verdict and an expensive one. Chris's defense has cost them nearly $400,000.

Speaker 7 But at this moment, freedom is priceless.

Speaker 3 How do you feel?

Speaker 3 I don't know.

Speaker 6 It felt like, you know, a million pounds had just been pushed off of me.

Speaker 6 I could just feel all that stress and all that pressure just

Speaker 6 it went right out.

Speaker 17 I'm just glad it's over.

Speaker 17 I'm just glad it's over.

Speaker 7 Looking at the evidence, you came back with not guilty on all four counts. What convinced you that Chris Ruth was innocent?

Speaker 23 We felt like the prosecution really didn't present the case very well.

Speaker 7 Was this a difficult decision for the jury to come to? Very difficult.

Speaker 4 Anything you'd like to say to the Woodrow family?

Speaker 17 just sorry for what they had to go through.

Speaker 7 We were very concerned about her family.

Speaker 7 And no matter what verdict we gave, the little baby was not coming back.

Speaker 5 Exactly.

Speaker 7 It was not a verdict the Woodruffs were prepared to hear.

Speaker 10 I was stunned. Disappointment.
Just it totally blew me away.

Speaker 7 They've lost their daughter.

Speaker 10 She's still gone. That's the main thing.
You know, she's gone.

Speaker 16 I believe what I believe about what happened.

Speaker 7 What do you think happened to Emily?

Speaker 8 I don't want to answer that. I don't want to answer that.
I don't want to be, I don't want to get myself in trouble with that.

Speaker 7 Do you think Emily would be alive today had you not asked Chris to babysit for you? Yes.

Speaker 4 I pity that they can't accept the truth, that they think that it was some horrible,

Speaker 4 abusive ending, And it wasn't. She was sick.

Speaker 23 We rejoice with Chris. We thank you for upholding him and for him upholding us.
Now bless us all and nourish us in your fellowship through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Speaker 3 Amen. Amen.

Speaker 7 The Ruths are thankful that Chris is finally free of the burden and suspicion he's been under for nearly two years. But they know he has a lot of catching up to do.

Speaker 4 That's what we're going to help him do. Good job.
We've got to gain back the things that were lost. You can't replace the homecoming dances and those things,

Speaker 4 but

Speaker 4 you can come back to goals and dreams.

Speaker 12 So how will Chris start putting his life back together? Don't go away.

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Speaker 7 Two years ago, Chris Ruth was a normal kid living a normal life.

Speaker 7 Now he's trying to piece that life back together.

Speaker 3 All right, pull it up.

Speaker 7 The first step is to remove the ankle monitor he's worn for the last four months.

Speaker 15 Ah, there it goes.

Speaker 7 There it goes.

Speaker 7 Yes!

Speaker 7 All right.

Speaker 7 Then it's driving lessons with mom.

Speaker 6 Slow down. I've never driven more than 10 feet before, so I'm about ready to go get to it.
Wait a minute.

Speaker 3 Let me swing all the way out. I know it's like we...

Speaker 4 There you go. That's better.
Okay.

Speaker 7 Finally, the biggest step of all, high school.

Speaker 6 I suppose it might be a little hard getting back to the first few days, but I think I'll adjust pretty good.

Speaker 7 His mom can stop worrying about his defense and concentrate on something a little more normal, like biology.

Speaker 4 So you didn't bring the biology back?

Speaker 6 Through the whole thing, I was more worried about my mom than I was myself, because I knew I was going to get through it and I knew I was going to be able to deal with it, but I wasn't sure about her.

Speaker 4 All right, I'm not going to kiss you when we get up there.

Speaker 4 Are you going to kiss me? Because that's fine with me.

Speaker 3 I love you.

Speaker 3 Have a wonderful day. Bye.

Speaker 4 I'm proud of you.

Speaker 4 Love you.

Speaker 19 I think the legal part's over. Buddy will carry it with him for all of his life.

Speaker 8 Always.

Speaker 7 Chris Ruth went on to law school and now is a defense attorney.

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