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Defense opens case for East Troy man accused in daughter’s death

ELKHORN — Protect, love and provide for.

Those are the three things Jason H. Andritsch promised his daughter Naomi the day she was born, defense attorney Melissa Frost said Thursday.

Andritsch, 27, of 2178 Clark St., No 7, East Troy, is accused of first-degree reckless homicide and causing great bodily harm to a child in the 2007 death of his 3-week-old daughter.

But Frost, who made the defense’s opening statement, said Andritsch did everything a good parent would do to protect and provide for his infant daughter.

“He made that promise to her when she was born that he would protect her, that he would provide for her and that he would love her,” Frost said. “He will tell you that is what he believes a good parent does for a child.”

On the evening of Oct. 7, 2007, Andritsch and Naomi’s mother, Tiffany Mielke, decided to give the child a bath.

When the bath was done, Mielke went outside to dump the bathwater while Andritsch took Naomi to their bedroom. On her way back into the house, Mielke said she heard Andritsch say “she’s pooping” on his way from the bedroom to the bathroom with the baby.

After finding cleaning supplies, Mielke rushed to the bathroom and found a lifeless Naomi in Andritsch’s arms.

Naomi was taken to Waukesha Memorial Hospital and later flown to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin where she died Oct. 13, 2007, one month after she was born.

An autopsy revealed several new and week-old healing injuries to several of Naomi’s back ribs. She also had recent injuries, including impact bruises on her jaw and forehead, bruises on her eyelids and hand, and bleeding and swelling of the brain.

District Attorney Philip Koss said Andritsch caused the injuries by shaking her, which Koss said nurses twice advised the parents against doing.

Frost said Thursday that Andritsch did not cause the injuries by shaking the child. Instead, she said, he only shook her once Naomi had become lifeless in his arms.

According to the parents, Naomi had become fussy and regurgitated despite not having eaten for a while that day. That wasn’t the first time they had seen her regurgitate, but they had become wary when she did it again the same day.

Before the bath incident, she had cried loudly for about 20 minutes, Frost said.

“Jason held her, sat with her through the whole thing,” she said. “He didn’t become frustrated, he didn’t become angry. He was doing a good job. He sat her down, soothed her.”

After the incident and after being questioned by police officers, Andritsch was taken into custody and never saw Naomi again. He heard about her death while in jail.

Andritsch’s father, Daniel, testified Thursday. He said that while he didn’t remember any particular time Jason held the baby improperly or injured her in any way, he remembered an incident where Mielke held Naomi awkwardly.

According to Daniel Andritsch, Jason and his brothers were outside when Tiffany came out of the house holding Naomi with one arm against her hip, the baby’s head against her side, and the baby’s body against her hip.

“She was not supporting the baby’s head,” Daniel Andritsch said. “I said, ‘Tiffany, if you’re going to hold the baby like that, please at least step on the grass in case you drop her.’”

Daniel Andritsch said both parents seemed immature to have a child, but added Jason had slowly became more mature over the years.

Daniel Andritsch said he was not allowed to attend Naomi’s funeral or memorial services. When the Mielke family decided to shut down Naomi’s life-support, nobody in the Andritsch family was consulted, he said.

“There was no closure for my family there,” he added.

Frost is expected to call three more witnesses in court today. Jason Andritsch is expected to testify afterward. Koss said closing statements and jury deliberation would follow testimony.