U.S. man accused of fracturing toddler’s skull to be extradited

A B.C. judge ordered a Spokane-area man accused of fracturing the skull of his girlfriend’s toddler be committed for extradition to the United States.

In a ruling Tuesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joel Groves found there was sufficient evidence against Chase William Michell to make the extradition order.

The judge noted there are a number of witnesses expected to testify at a trial in the U.S. should there be an extradition order for Michell, who is accused of assaulting the 2 1/2-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend.

The witnesses are expected to say Michell was left to care for the child, identified by initials in the judge’s ruling, when the mother left her apartment in Spokane County in Washington to go on a business trip July 20, 2015.

The girl’s grandmother is expected to testify that when she arrived at the apartment the next day, she found the little girl lying on the couch in the living room.

She’s expected to say the girl had urinated, which was unusual because she was toilet-trained, and when she escorted the child to the bathroom, she noticed several bruises on the girl’s head. The girl began vomiting and going in and out of consciousness. When the grandmother approached Michell, he was lying face down on his bed, an empty bottle of liquor nearby, according to the evidence. When she asked him what happened to the girl, he said he didn’t know, according to the anticipated testimony outlined for the judge.

The girl continued to go in and out of consciousness and vomit and was taken to hospital.

Her biological father is expected to testify that when he asked her what happened, the girl told him, “Chase hit me.”

A medical expert is to testify the girl’s injuries could only have resulted from her being violently shaken, that the fracture on the girl’s skull was in an area of thick bone, and the break was caused by a force greater than a mere fall. The bruises on her head were not considered accidental, according to the expert’s expected testimony.

A lawyer for Michell, who is alleged to have fled the scene and travelled across the border into B.C. before he was arrested near Agassiz, objected to the extradition application, arguing the evidence was manifestly unreasonable.

The lawyer challenged the medical expert’s findings and the admissibility of expected testimony of several other witnesses.

But in his ruling, the judge said he expected any court in the U.S. would have similar rules to the ones in Canada dealing with expert evidence. He concluded the evidence was not unsafe or dangerous and was not so inherently unreliable that it would be problematic to order the extradition.

Groves said, based on the evidence, a reasonable jury properly instructed could find the accused guilty.

The accused, who sat quietly in the prisoner’s dock, had little reaction to the ruling. He remains in custody and has 30 days in which to appeal the judge’s decision. If there is no appeal, the federal Minister of Justice is responsible for making the extradition order.