Couple who adopted Chinese orphans with complex medical issues on trial for murder, abuse
An attorney for a woman, who along with her husband are charged in the death of a boy they adopted from China, described them as loving parents who took in children with complex medical issues.
"They opened their hearts and home to children who were not wanted," defense attorney Jeremy Evans said in opening statements Friday in the couple's trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
Evans pointed out that Katherine and John Snyder weren't indicted on murder and child abuse charges until 2022, six years after the death of their 8-year-old son, Adam.
The couple also are charged with abusing four other children they adopted from China as well as one of their biological children, who was a teenager at the time. The abuse is alleged to have happened between 2014 and 2016.
Prosecutors said all the children were malnourished and were punished for wetting or soiling themselves with cold baths or showers.
Evans showed jurors several photos of the Snyders and the children − many depicting smiling faces − taken during court-supervised visits in recent years. The children were removed from the Snyders' custody soon after Adam's death and in the years since have been cared for by relatives out of state.
Prosecutors say that during their time away from the Snyders, some of the adopted children have opened up about their experiences in the couple's Springfield Township home.
The couple has a total of three biological children. All are now adults.
Severe head injuries
The case dates to Oct. 5, 2016, when prosecutors say 8-year-old Adam died from severe head injuries at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The Hamilton County coroner’s office later ruled the death a homicide.
In opening statements, Assistant Prosecutor Stacy Lefton said Adam suffered a "blunt force, traumatic impact" to his head. The boy had soiled himself that morning.
Lefton told jurors that Katherine "picked him up and slammed him on the ground."
Afterwards, Lefton said Katherine took the boy to her husband's office in their home and put him on the floor. John Snyder, according to Lefton, left the child on the floor and didn't check on him.
Katherine eventually called 911.
6 children adopted from China
Evans described the numerous medical issues facing all the children the Snyders adopted from orphanages in China, beginning in 2014.
The first child they adopted from China, a 6-year-old girl, had serious heart problems and died at Children's Hospital in 2014, only a few months after she arrived here.
Later in 2014, the couple adopted two girls, both of whom had multiple medical conditions. And in 2016, they adopted three boys, including Adam. All three boys had medical problems. One, an infant, needed a liver transplant.
Adam had a condition that caused his joints to constrict as well as psychological issues that were undiagnosed, Evans said. He displayed self-harming behavior, Evans said, intentionally striking his head or punching himself.
After breaking his leg at some point and having it immobilized, Evans said, Adam started refusing to feed himself or dress himself and would smear feces on himself.
The day before he died, Katherine took him to Children's Hospital's College Hill campus for psychiatric help. She had found him covered in feces that day, Evans said, put him in the bathtub and left briefly. When she returned, he was face down in the tub.
The hospital allowed him to return home.
The couple retained three experts who concluded that Adam’s death was not a homicide, according to lawsuits they filed against Hamilton County’s coroner in 2019 and 2020. The lawsuits sought to change Adam's death record, but both were ultimately dismissed.
Evans said Adam died of natural causes.
Prosecutors: boy had six broken fingers
According to prosecutors, Adam had bed sores that were not treated. His hands were covered in socks and taped to his pajama bottoms to immobilize him, prosecutors say.
X-rays after Adam’s death revealed he had at least six broken fingers, court documents say.
The Snyders face charges including aggravated murder and child endangering.
The trial, before Common Pleas Judge Wende Cross, is expected to take three weeks.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Trial begins for John and Katherine Snyder in adopted boy's death
