Prosecution and defense attorneys made their opening statements this morning in the trial of Kristina Crooks in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

Their statements were in front of a jury of seven men and five women, which was chosen Monday after more than 5-1/2 hours of questioning. The jury pool consisted of 70 jurors, more than Kosciusko County prosecutor David Kolbe has ever called.

Crooks is accused of reckless homicide in the Jan. 24, 1997, death of her 11-month-old daughter, Lois Marie Ozenbaugh. Crooks is also accused of neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury resulting in death and neglect (prior to the child's death).

Court documents show that Ozenbaugh died after vomiting and choking on her stomach contents. Cigarettes were found in the child's stomach during an autopsy, and toxicology reports revealed Valium in her bloodstream.

In his opening statement, Kolbe gave the jury a step-by-step account of Crooks' life, which included her dropping out of school, getting married at age 16 and having her first child, Autumn.

She divorced Autumn's father and had another child, Lois, by Eric Ozenbaugh, whom she did not marry, Kolbe said. She then moved into Black's Trailer Court, which he called "the closest thing to a ghetto in Kosciusko County," "a seedbed of criminality" and "a place of danger and death."

Crooks was living in the trailer court near North Webster last January with Steve Iden Sr. Her two daughters had been living with Dave and Vicki Dittman, and a guardianship hearing was scheduled for Jan. 24, the day Lois was found dead.

Kolbe also mentioned the autopsy findings: multiple bruises found on Lois' body, and the fact that nicotine didn't kill her but that something irritated her stomach and she vomited and choked.

Defense attorney Jay Rigdon gave a different view of the events leading up to Lois' death, saying Crooks got up during the night with Lois, who was fussy and vomiting. She cleaned Lois up and went back to bed, and when Autumn went in to wake her sister, Lois was dead.

Rigdon said neglect would be difficult to prove since Iden's two older children also were living in the home at the time, and with four children present, doctors did not know when or how the bruises were made.

Candace Smythe, a deputy marshal in North Webster, was the state's first witness. She testified that she was the first to arrive on the scene and found Lois on her back, with no pulse. Crooks identified the baby, Smythe said, and said she had been up during the night with Lois, who had vomited.

Through all of today's testimony, observers said the jury remained composed and professional.

During questioning of the potential jurors, Kolbe gave a peek into how he may attempt to convict Crooks by implying that she did not seek medical help immediately for her child, even though she knew what the baby had ingested.

The defense team of Jamelyn Freeman and Jay Rigdon questioned jurors for information on their children. Freeman asked jurors for stories on potentially dangerous things their children or relatives may have swallowed, implying the defense will argue any parent's child may eat something very quickly without the parent being aware of it.

More prosecution witnesses are expected to be called this afternoon. [[In-content Ad]]