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State v. Combs9/25/2002
of the scars on Esther's body revealed 410 discrete scars. Dr. Harlan stated that during her 25 years of practice, she had never before seen so many individual scars on one person's body.
Dr. Henry Nichols testified that he evaluated Esther's dental condition on May 11, 1998, and, at that time, her front teeth were "grossly displaced" or "bucktooth exaggerated." In Dr. Nichols' opinion, the only reasonable cause of the displacement would be some sort of "traumatic episode," i.e., a blow, fall, concussion, or other sort of abrupt physical force contact with the tissue. The prosecutor asked Dr. Nichols if he could state, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, whether the condition of Esther's front teeth was consistent with complete displacement, followed by reinsertion of the teeth into the gums. Dr. Nichols responded affirmatively, stating that tooth displacement to the degree present in Esther's mouth "just doesn't occur in nature." Dr. Nichols stated that in his twenty years of practice, he had never observed an arrangement of teeth similar to Esther's. Moreover, the shape of Esther's dental arch was not the typical "U" shape, but "terribly distorted." The blunted appearance of the roots of Esther's upper front teeth and the condition of her lower jaw revealed further evidence of trauma: the top half of one of her lower incisors was missing and a cyst had formed on the root, without any sign of decay (the typical cause). With the permission and assistance of Esther's natural parents, Bill and Rachel Whetstone (formerly Rachel Garcia), Dr. Nichols treated Esther's conditions and replaced her two upper front teeth with a permanent bridge.
Dr. Glenda Jo Fox Ramsey, a radiologist, testified that she evaluated x-rays of Esther's left elbow and, in her opinion, the elbow appeared "abnormal." Specifically, the distal humerus, a portion of the long bone at the elbow, had not grown properly. The x-ray showed a healed fracture, caused by some sort of "trauma" (defined by Dr. Ramsey as "an injury , a blow to the bone that's not a normal degree of stress"). She further testified that the appearance of the bone indicated an injury "consistent with being struck by an object such as a [baseball] bat" or the result of a fall. The injury was not consistent with the action of swinging a gallon milk jug. Dr. Ramsey also testified that x-rays of Esther's sacrum ("tailbone") revealed an abnormal "acute" curvature of the bone, as if it were "collapsed inward." Finally, she testified that Esther's "bone age" was "delayed" by at least three years, i.e., the development of her bones was significantly slower than her chronological age, reporting that such " delay in bone age is a common manifestation of malnutrition."
At the conclusion of the above testimony, the State rested its case. Thereafter, Samuel Johnson, an acquaintance of Defendant Joseph Combs, testified that he met Joseph at the Hyles-Anderson Bible College in 1983. Johnson saw him again in Florida in 1986. At that time, Joseph was starting the Tampa Bay Baptist Church. Johnson became a member and saw the Combs children regularly (three to five times per week) for the following two-and-one-half years. In addition, Johnson had stayed as a guest in the Combs' home for two weeks while he was seeking employment. Johnson testified that their home was "very normal," clean, and organized.
Aaron P. Welch, pastor of the Charles Towne Baptist Temple in South Carolina, testified that he met Joseph Combs in 1979. Welch was a student of Joseph's at Hyles-Anderson Bible College and graduated in 1982. In 1986, he saw Defendant again. Joseph was preparing to move to Florida at the time. In 1987, Welch arranged to have Joseph come to his c
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