She said, she said; Liz Carroll and Amy Baker accuse each other

Baker may take stand Monday
Live-in girlfriend will tell her version of Liz Carroll's role in Marcus' death
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, Feb. 18, 2007, pg. A1.

BATAVIA - Liz Carroll and Amy Baker were the kind of girlfriends who shared everything.

That included a house, a man and - for a while - the secret about the disappearance of Carroll's 3-year-old foster son, Marcus Fiesel.

Now, the main thing they have in common is that they blame each other for killing the developmentally delayed child.

On Monday, in a courtroom in Clermont County, Baker is expected to testify as the prosecution's key witness in the murder trial of Carroll, 30.

"I can't wait to get Amy Baker on the witness stand," the defense attorney for Carroll, Gregory Cohen, told The Enquirer.

He made the statement before a gag order was placed on lawyers in the case in September by Judge Robert Ringland of the Clermont County Court of Common Pleas.

After the trial resumes at 9 a.m., it's possible jurors will also hear testimony from Baker's mother, Theresa Chapman, of Amelia. Cohen had a subpoena issued for her, demanding that she appear at the courthouse on Monday morning.

Also subpoenaed by Cohen - but now unlikely to testify - is news reporter Deborah Dixon, who has been covering the trial for WKRC-TV (Channel 12).

Dixon said Saturday, a day after being subpoenaed, that Cohen has told her she will not be needed.

On Friday, the prosecution showed two hours of video news clips to jurors, including an interview Dixon conducted with the Carrolls before it was learned Marcus had died.

Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel "Woody" Breyer and Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier are expected to finish presenting evidence against Carroll by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.

Then, Cohen will start presenting the defense case, which would finish on Tuesday.

All three lawyers are expected to make closing arguments. It's unclear which prosecutor will speak first, but Cohen will follow him. Either Breyer or Piepmeier will have the last word.

The jurors have been allowed to go home each night and ordered by the judge to ignore news accounts of the case and not discuss the case with anyone.

A murder conviction could carry a life sentence - with no possibility of parole for 15 years. In addition to murder, Liz Carroll is charged with involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, felonious assault, and endangering a child in Clermont County.

Carroll could testify this week, but Cohen has told jurors they shouldn't take it as a sign of guilt if Carroll doesn't.

If she does take the witness stand, it might be because Cohen thinks the only hope of avoiding a guilty verdict is if Carroll can persuade jurors she was a loving homemaker who was led astray.

Cohen has already told the jury that David Carroll Jr., 29, was an unfaithful, abusive husband with a bipolar disorder.

The defense attorney told jurors that Baker intimidated and dominated Liz Carroll after David Carroll invited Baker and her three children to move into their Union Township home. The Carrolls cared for four children of their own, plus Marcus and another foster child.

If Liz Carroll testifies, the prosecution might call to the witness stand two Enquirer reporters - Eileen Kelley and Sheila McLaughlin - in an attempt to show Carroll has repeatedly changed her story about Marcus. The reporters wrote stories based on interviews in jail with the Carrolls in which both claimed Baker killed Marcus.

Prosecutors say Marcus died after the Carrolls bound him in a blanket with packing tape, placed the boy in a playpen in a closet, then left him alone the weekend of Aug. 4 while attending a family reunion in Grant County, Ky.

Even if the Carrolls didn't bind Marcus, they could be found guilty if it's proved he died because they left him alone - in violation of their responsibilities as foster parents.

The Carrolls told The Enquirer that Marcus died before they left for the reunion, after Baker bound him so she could have sex with David Carroll while Liz Carroll wasn't home.

On Friday, a playpen was introduced as evidence. Baker is expected to testify Monday that it's the one in which Marcus died.

Baker, 25, avoided charges for her role in the cover-up of the death of Marcus in exchange for testifying against the Carrolls. David Carroll's trial is scheduled to begin March 19.

Baker's deal with prosecutors depends on no evidence arising that she helped kill Marcus.

Prosecutors have stressed to jurors that sometimes unsavory people are given immunity because they are the only ones who can explain how somebody was killed.