Homicide Trial For Joshua George Heads Into Day Four

Testimony on day three in the trial of Joshua George, 33 of Smith Township has concluded with differing opinions by expert witnesses. Prosecutors called Dr. Adelaide Eichman, a child advocacy pediatrician that worked at UPMC/Children’s Hospital that reviewed the case of the infant that died of trauma suffered sometime between the time prior to Joshua George dropping his son off for babysitting at the home of grandmother Cheska Rotellini and the time that she called 9-1-1 for medical care. Eichman says that the baby died of blunt force trauma to the head and severe shaking, but would not commit to a definitive timeline as to when symptoms would occur after the trauma was committed. She maintained that symptoms could occur two to four hours after the trauma occurred. Defense attorneys called Dr. Todd Luckasevic, a forensic pathologist that performed the autopsy on the infant and agreed that blunt force trauma and violent shaking caused the death. He characterized the death as a homicide. He stated that the severity of the injuries would have caused near immediate symptoms of being inconsolable. His opinion is that the injuries suffered by the infant probably occurred shortly after 10:00 am that day. He stated that this is the first time in his twenty year career that he has testified on behalf of defense counsel. Testimony will resume on Thursday