Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies Lt. Michael Murphy (left) and Sgt. Scott Hayden escort Tyler Witham-Jordan into the Lincoln County Courthouse for an evidence suppression hearing Tuesday, Sept. 24. Although the court agreed to limit some areas of testimony, a sozen defense motions to restrict or eliminate testimony evidence were largely unsuccessful. Witham-Jordan attorneys were largely unsuccessful lines Witham-Jordan is charged with intentional or knowing or depraved indifference murder in the death of 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan on Dec. 25, 2022. (Sherwood Olin photo)
Attorneys for the state and the man charged with the Christmas Day death of an Edgecomb toddler in 2022 spent the day in Lincoln County Superior Court arguing through a dozen different pretrial motions Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Tyler Witham Jordan, 30, of Edgecomb and Livermore Falls, is charged with intentional or knowing or depraved indifference murder in the death of 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan on Dec. 25, 2022.
According to the Lincoln County Court Clerk’s office, a trial date is anticipated for December but not yet scheduled.
Over the course of daylong session Tuesday, Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings made a number of rulings that will shape the information that will eventually be presented to a jury.
After review and discussions, Billings denied defense motions to limit or eliminate DNA and blood evidence recovered at the crime scene, the eyewitness statements regarding Witham-Jordan’s behavior, Witham-Jordan’s history of drug use, and evidence relating to Witham-Jordan’s relationship with Handrahan’s mother.
Billings acknowledged defense concerns that witness statements and evidence of prior “bad acts” could be inflammatory, but could not rule out the probative value of such evidence.
It would be up to the state to make the case it wanted to make, but Billings indicated he was mindful of the issue. Some of the concerns raised, Billings said, could be addressed in the form of instructions to the jury later.
“I’m very skeptical about this kind of evidence,” Billings said. “Don’t take that to suggest there seems to be a tendency of prosecutors to want to go beyond saying a defendant committed this criminal act: to paint the defendant as a bad person, not a bad person because they committed this particular act, but a bad person … From my experience, it’s easy to cross that line.”
Around 7:37 a.m. on Christmas Day in 2022, emergency medical services were called to the home Handrahan shared with her mother, two half siblings, and Witham-Jordan off Route 1 in Edgecomb after the 3-year-old was discovered unresponsive in her bed.
During an autopsy Dec. 26, 2022, Maine Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Liam Funte identified extensive visible and internal injuries and determined the cause of death was homicide due to blunt force trauma.
After 10 months of investigation, Witham-Jordan was arrested at his mother’s home in Edgecomb on Oct. 6, 2023. Since his arrest he has been held at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.
During a search of the premises Dec. 25, detectives found blood in Handrahan’s bedroom and in the upstairs bathroom, all of which was subsequently determined to belong to Handrahan, according to a 33-page affidavit filed by Maine State Police Detective James Moore on Oct. 5, 2023.
“Physical evidence and the scene give the appearance that the fatal physical assault on Makinzlee Handrahan started in the bathroom,” Moore said in the affidavit.
On the stand Tuesday, Moore reviewed crime scene photographs, including pictures of a number of items including a broken hairbrush, part of which was found with Handrahan’s hair entangled, and a bloodstained diaper, both discovered in a trash can in the bathroom.
Under questioning Moore testified the blood was Handrahan’s and DNA for both Handrahan and Witham-Jordan was found on the hairbrush, the diaper, and under one of Handrahan’s fingernails.
Questioned by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman, Moore testified the mother’s DNA was not present on the brush or the diaper.
Testifying for the defense via Zoom, forensic genetic consultant Rick Staub said he wasn’t surprised there was an intermingling of DNA found in the home because the individuals lived together. He also testified it was not possible to determine when the DNA was left behind.
“All they can say is (Witham-Jordan’s) profile was found on the brush; his DNA was found on the brush, with no knowledge of when that happened,” Staub said.
When defense attorney Jim Howaniec expressed concern a jury might be inclined to give undue weight to the conclusions of a Maine State Crime Lab expert regarding the DNA findings, Staub agreed with the concern.
“There is that ‘CSI’ effect you are mentioning where people expect DNA can solve a case,” Staub said. “The DNA in this case; it would be pretty significant if these people didn’t all live together.”
Among other rulings, Billings granted a motion to suppress a defense subpoena seeking Makinzlee Handrahan’s mother’s medical records. The motion to suppress was filed by the mother’s attorney Richard Elliot.
Howaniec said the defense was only interested in records for the year or so prior to the homicide and asked the court to review the records on behalf of the defense. Elliot, successfully argued mental health records were sealed by law to prevent fishing expeditions.
Defense attorney Paul Corey advocated eliminating some or all of the testimony by members of the Central Lincoln County Ambulance crew who were the first responders on the scene. Corey argued some statements presented opinion as fact and a jury might be moved to give undue weight to the comments of an emergency medical service provider.
Acknowledging the responders’ personal observations amounted to lay testimony, Billings denied the motion to suppress, saying their accounts were significant being the first non-family members on the scene.
Separately on the stand Tuesday, CLC Ambulance Service Chief Nick Bryant and EMT Curtis Bramhall both described a loud, chaotic environment when they entered the Handrahan home Dec. 25, 2022. Both men testified the children and the two adults present were crying and yelling. Witham-Jordan was in the upstairs bathroom shouting a profane three word-phrase over and over.
Bryant, the first to enter the residence, said he proceeded upstairs to the bathroom, responding to sound of Witham-Jordan’s voice. Once he saw Handrahan, Bryant testified he immediately determined her injuries were not self-sustained. He quickly scooped the child up and proceeded down the stairs, out to the ambulance where he locked Handrahan, the crew, and himself inside.
Bryant and Bramhall testified they were inside the residence less than minute.
Under questioning, Bryant confirmed there was no law enforcement on the scene. According to Bryant, CLC Ambulance policy and practice is to prioritize the safety of the patient and crew.
“Because of the number of injuries it was our assumption at the time they were done to her and not accident,” he said. “So doing some quick decision making; someone had done that to her, the scene is not safe; we’ll isolate ourselves from the folks in the apartment.”
At the close of the hearing, Billings advised the attorneys to collaborate developing a written questionnaire that can be submitted to prospective jurors during the jury selection process. Based on comments from the bench, jury selection is anticipated to start in November.
