September 10, 2018 at 5:29 p.m.
Judge to decide admissibility of text messages in Ellen Tran case
Judge to decide admissibility of text messages in Ellen Tran case
By By Jamie Taylor and Heather Schaefer-
Ellen Tran, 29, is due in court Sept. 12 for a final pretrial conference ahead of her Oct. 19 trial on a charge of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Avery J. Edwards.
Judge Patrick O'Melia is expected to rule on a number of motions filed by the state seeking to admit several sets of text messages as evidence in Tran's trial.
The messages are between Tran and her now ex-husband, Dr. Trung T. Tran, Dr. Tran and Ellen Tran's parents and Ellen Tran and Avery's mother, Lori Edwards.
According to court records, Avery Edwards became unresponsive April 14,
2017 while visiting his father and stepmother in Newbold. He died several hours later at a hospital in Marshfield. Shortly thereafter, Ellen Tran was charged with second degree reckless homicide. The charge was amended to first degree reckless homicide after Fond du Lac County medical examiner Doug Kelley detailed the boy's injuries during a preliminary hearing. Kelley testified Edwards died from blunt force trauma to the head and listed several other areas of the child's body where he found either bruises or contusions. He also testified the injuries did not match Ellen's statement that the boy had become unresponsive after falling in the shower.
The boy's father, Dr. Trung T. Tran, is also facing charges.
Dr. Tran was charged Sept. 20 with failure to act to prevent reckless causing of great bodily harm to a child and child neglect resulting in death. The first count was dismissed following a motion hearing in late November, however the second charge went forward following a preliminary hearing Jan. 26.
On Feb. 21, Schiek filed an information charging Tran with failure to act to prevent bodily harm (as opposed to great bodily harm) to a child, a class H felony, and child neglect resulting in death, a class D felony. Late last month, Judge Michael Bloom denied a defense motion to dismiss the new "bodily harm" charge.
Trung Tran is due back in court for a pre-trial conference Nov. 13, after his now ex-wife's trial is completed.
Other motions filed by the state Aug. 31 concern the admissibility of medical records, the interpretation of those records through expert testimony, and to allow Oneida County sheriff's detective Chad Wanta, captain Terri Hook and Lori Edwards to remain in the courtroom during the trial, although they are set to be called as witnesses. The state also wants to be allowed to show photographs of Avery's body to the jury and introduce Ellen Tran's statement to investigators as evidence.
Late Monday, the defense filed a motion of its own which indicates the defense Ellen Tran intends to mount "is that she did not kill AJE, and that there is a reasonable possibility that his father, Trung Tran, killed him."
The motion also accuses the state of "investigative bias" which the defense says caused law enforcement officers to focus disproportionately on Ellen Tran from the start, to the exclusion of Trung Tran.
July selection in Ellen Tran's case is set for Oct. 19. If convicted, she faces up to 60 years in prison.
Dr. Tran faces a maximum sentence of 31 years in prison if convicted.
According to court records, the Trans divorced in June.
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