This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A West Valley City mother was ordered to stand trial for murder on Thursday, accused of smothering her 13-month-old son last year.
Kim Hawkins, 24, was charged in May with the first-degree felony crime. The woman's preliminary hearing concluded Thursday with 3rd District Court Judge Mark Kouris ruling that there was sufficient evidence for the case to move forward.
Hawkins' attorneys had asked Kouris to throw out the charge, arguing that there was no evidence to show that the woman suffocated her son, Billy.
"No one knows why this child is dead," defense attorney Nick Falcone argued, adding that this was one of the "most egregious prosecutions" he has seen during his 10 years as a lawyer.
But prosecutor Robert Parrish said the evidence showed Billy was fine on Jan. 23, 2014, until "something happened" while only Hawkins and the child were in their West Valley City apartment. He said injuries to the child's face support their theory of suffocation.
"[The child] is so small, that the marks of those struggles are subtle," Parrish said.
But Falcone argued that the face markings could have been caused by medical professionals intubating the child.
"If Ms. Hawkins was a little bride living in Cottonwood Heights in a pretty house in this situation," he said, "... where she had a perfect life, while Ms. Hawkins did not, she wouldn't be sitting here in this [defendant's] chair right now."
But Kouris ultimately ordered the case to move forward, saying that according to Utah law, he is not allowed to weigh the credibility of witness testimony and must view the evidence in a light most favorable to prosecutors at the preliminary hearing phase.
"Could there be another cause of death?" Kouris said. "Absolutely. There could have."
Hawkins will be in court again on Oct. 16 for an arraignment hearing.
According to charges, doctors could not determine an exact cause of death but did not rule out a deliberate smothering, especially after finding teeth marks in the boy's upper lip and small bruises underneath his chin.
Utah Assistant Medical Examiner Joseph White testified in August that he certified the manner and cause of death as "undetermined." He said a culture for influenza was positive but in his opinion, that did not cause the death.
In addition, White said he does not believe the boy died from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Hawkins' boyfriend, Lamont Anderson, testified in August that he met Hawkins at a homeless shelter in downtown Salt Lake City when Billy was just a few months old and had been like a father to the boy.
Billy was standing up in his crib when he left the apartment on the day the child died, Anderson said. He later got a call from Hawkins saying the boy was not breathing and he told her to call 911 and do CPR, he testified.
When he arrived at the apartment minutes later, Anderson said, Hawkins had a 911 dispatcher on speaker phone and was performing CPR. He said the child was not breathing and he took over for Hawkins until emergency personnel arrived.
When asked by the prosecution if he had done anything before he left the apartment to stop Billy from breathing, Anderson replied, "No."
And under cross-examination, Anderson testified he does not think Hawkins was capable of killing Billy and that he had never seen Hawkins hurt her son.
Twitter: @jm_miller