Kimberly Fry Opts Not To Testify

Kimberly Fry chose not to take the stand in her second-degree murder trial, and the defense rested Tuesday after having called one witness.

"Yes sir, I don't think I could emotionally handle it," Fry told Superior Court Judge William Carnes Jr. when asked whether she was certain of her decision not to testify.

Fry left the courtroom sobbing uncontrollably after Carnes denied a defense motion to acquit before the case goes to the jury, ruling it "is reasonable, if the jury should choose to believe it, that the defendant acted with malice," one of the requirements for murder.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday morning, followed by jury instructions before the panel of seven women and six men begin deliberations. One juror was excused Monday for personal reasons, leaving just one alternate in the group.

The trial has proceeded for more than three weeks, with jury selection having begun on Sept. 13. Prosecutor Stephen Regine set out to prove Kimberly Fry strangled her 8-year-old daughter, Camden, in their North Kingstown home at 73 Ricci Lane on Aug. 10, 2009, while the girl was in the throes of a temper tantrum over not wanting to take a bath. Regine laid out testimony that Camden Fry suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, using Kimberly Fry's own written words to describe two-hour-long screaming fits that could include punching, kicking and biting. Regine quoted from a suicide note Fry wrote after her daughter's death, charging she blamed her daughter for her depression and problems in her marriage. "All I wanted was a nice decent life. I was beaten down by an 8-year-old,” Regine quoted from the letter Fry wrote after taking a cocktail of precription drugs in her failed suicide attempt.

Defense attorney Sarah Wright has acknowledged that Camden Fry died at her mother's hands, but the key, Wright contends, is the lack of intent. Kimberly Fry had no intention of killing her daughter, Wright said, but was actually trying to help her, performing a restraint technique designed to quell a tantrum. Wright called Dr. Sarah Laposata, former chief medical examiner for Rhode Island, who testified the totality of the injuries Camden suffered pointed to an accidental death caused by the restraint technique.

Laposata's testimony countered that of acting state medical examiner Dr. William Cox, who said Camden died as a result of manual strangulation. Both pathologists agreed, however, that Kimberly Fry must have maintained constant pressure on Camden's neck, chest and/or mouth for more than four minutes after the girl lost consciousness in order for death to have resulted.

Regine called 15 witnesses in attempting to make his case, including emotional testimony from Timothy Fry, Camden's father, who found his daughter dead in her bed the morning after her death. While Fry was on the stand, Regine played a recording of his 911 call the morning of Aug. 11, 2009, capturing in real-time the dramatic moments as he reacted to finding his daughter's body.

The trial is scheduled to resume with closing arguments in Washington County Superior Court in Wakefield at 9 a.m. Wednesday.