Jury might see slides on girl's fatal beating

A decision on a request to use a computer image presentation at a baby sitter's trial in the death of a Millmont 12-year-old will come Monday, the judge says

Holly Herman

Reading Eagle

Nov. 11--District Attorney Mark C. Baldwin has asked a Berks County judge for permission to show a jury a computer image presentation of the injuries a 12-year-old Millmont girl suffered when she was fatally beaten Sept. 4, 2005.

Baldwin asked that the color slides be shown during the first-degree murder trial of Rose M. Boyd-Tolver, 41, of the 700 block of McKnight Street.

Boyd-Tolver, who weighs more than 260 pounds, is accused of killing Amira Brown by beating her with a mop and then sitting on her.

Assistant Public Defender Craig S. Snyder, Boyd-Tolver's lawyer, objected to the presentation.

Bucci is expected to render a decision before jury selection in Boyd-Tolver's trial begins Monday.

Investigators said Boyd-Tolver was baby-sitting for the Southwest Middle School seventh-grader in the child's home at 630 Summit Ave.

Brown was under the foster care of Barbara Martin, officials said.

Baldwin, who made the request during a pretrial hearing, said the slides would give the jury an accurate account of the injuries the child suffered during the beating.

Snyder told the judge he will present evidence to show that Boyd-Tolver suffered from a mental deficiency.

Dr. Larry A. Rotenberg, a Reading Hospital psychiatrist, concluded that Boyd-Tolver was not insane at the time of the slaying. But Rotenberg said Boyd-Tolver suffers from a mental illness and low intelligence.

Baldwin said he will present another forensic psychiatrist to refute Rotenberg's findings.

According to court records: Boyd-Tolver was watching Brown in the child's home when the two argued in the kitchen.

She told police that Brown refused to go upstairs to her bedroom.

Boyd-Tolver hit the child with the mop in the kitchen and bedroom before she sat on her.

Martin found the child lying unconscious beside her bed.

Investigators said Brown lived with her biological mother until she was 3, then with other relatives and in foster care.

On Jan. 14, 2005, the foster agency, Pennsylvania Mentor of Wescosville, Lehigh County, placed Brown with Martin.

Boyd-Tolver is in the county jail without bail.