CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – On Monday, the bench trial for 29-year-old Yvette Slee, accused of first-degree murder in the death of her 7-year-old son David, began at the Montgomery County Courthouse.
The day started with opening statements from Jaclyn Bates, assistant district attorney for Montgomery County, who led the state’s case.
“On March 3, 2011, Yvette Slee used a plastic bag and smothered David Edward Slee III. Baby David was 8 months old at the time. Baby David passed away as a result of the injuries caused by his mother, Yvette Slee, on May 30, 2018,” Bates said.
1. Defense’s position
Slee has pleaded not guilty. In opening statements, defense attorney Wayne Clemmons noted the child’s death occurred seven years after the abuse took place. Clemmons said he anticipated several issues regarding cause of death.
Clemmons also raised the issue of double jeopardy: trying a defendant twice for the same offense. The new first-degree murder charge and the attempted murder conviction in 2013 stem from the same incident on March 3, 2011.
2. David Slee Jr.’s testimony
David Slee Jr. testified that he went to work on March 3, 2011 between 10 a.m. and noon, and that David Slee III was a “perfectly healthy baby.” At the time, Slee was a student at Austin Peay State University so the pair lived in the Emerald Hill dorms for students with families.
About an hour into work Slee Jr. received a call from his then-wife and said he knew something was wrong. He returned home to find the “hotel-style” lock chained on the door, adding to his suspicion. Campus police were called on the basis of a lockout.
“It took Yvette five to 10 minutes to open the door,” Slee Jr. testified. When he entered, she handed Baby David to him, and he realized the baby needed a diaper change. When Slee III was laid down for the change, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and EMS was called.
3. David spent over month at hospital
Slee’s mother and sister happened to arrive. Slee’s mother called 911, and an operator walked her through CPR.
EMS took Baby David to Gateway Medical Center, and he was then transferred to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where he spent over a month receiving treatment. He left with seizures, physical and intellectual disabilities, blindness and partial deafness.
During the last month of his life in May 2018, David was put on hospice care. His oxygen levels dropped, he was placed on a ventilator, and nurses administered morphine. When the state asked Slee Jr. about the morphine, he said they knew David was not going to make it. “He was dying; we were trying to ease his pain,” Slee Jr. said.
4. Slee changed story
Immediately after the incident, Slee told her family she didn’t know what happened. During an interview six days later with Police Sgt. Timothy Finley, Slee said she had let her 8-month-old son play with plastic bags, and she found him with one in his mouth.
“My son had a fetish for bags, paper or anything like that,” she told Finley. She claimed he was fine after she took the bag away. She said he got the bag again. “He was sitting on the bed, and he was making this weird screaming and it was sounding like he was suffocating. … I pulled it out,” she told Finley. “I didn’t think a Walmart bag would suffocate him.”
During a phone call played in court between Slee Jr. and Slee after their son died, Slee Jr. pleaded for Slee to tell him what happened. He mentioned the plastic bag. “Well, you kind of figured it out,” Slee said.
5. Two friends testify
Christopher McIntosh and Joshua Guillot, longtime friends from Northwest High School, testified Slee told them she suffocated David, although for different reasons.
“She brought up the fact that she strangled the baby, and the only reason she did that was because they couldn’t go on vacation,” McIntosh said.
“She got upset with David (Jr.) and didn’t want (Baby David) anymore, so her solution was to put a bag over his head, and she changed her mind,” Guillot testified.
The trial resumes Wednesday, March 31, in Judge William Goodman’s court.