Prosecutor Says Dead Girl Was ‘Tortured’

The daughter of Ecclesia Athletic Assn. founder Eldridge Broussard Jr. was “tortured” during a “theatrical show” staged for other children in the group, a prosecutor said Thursday at the trial of four adults charged in the 8-year-old child’s death.

“Little Dayna Lorae Broussard was tortured with torture instruments,” prosecutor Alfred French III told a Clackamas County Circuit Court jury during closing arguments in the trial of four Ecclesia members charged with manslaughter in the Oct. 13 death.

“What else can you call them?” he asked, referring to the bamboo rod, plastic pipe, hose, weight lifter’s belt and braided electrical cord used on the child during a two-hour discipline session at the group’s farmhouse near the town of Sandy east of Portland.

Four Face Prison

Willie Chambers, 35, Brian Brinson, 31, Constance Jackson, 38, and Frederick Doolittle, 28, each could be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.

The jury was expected to begin deliberations later Thursday after closing arguments by defense attorneys and final instructions to the panel from Judge John Lowe.

Ecclesia members testified that the group was brought together by religion and a desire to educate and protect their children outside South-Central Los Angeles. The group maintained two Oregon farmhouses that served as training centers.

The group used rigorous athletic and religious training. Its activities in Sandy drew criticism from neighbors who saw children toiling in the fields or standing at attention for long periods in the sun.

Protective Custody

Within hours of the girl’s death, the state took into protective custody 53 Ecclesia children, some of whom had been brought from the group’s Clackamas house to the one near Sandy to witness the discipline session.

During the trial, several Ecclesia children testified for the prosecution that Dayna Broussard was beaten from 200 to 845 times, but adults and children called by the defense said there were only 50 to 100 blows.

The prosecutor said state Medical Examiner Dr. Larry Lewman and Dr. William Brady, a former state medical examiner who conducted his own autopsy for the defense, determined that the child died of “blunt trauma injury.”

“That’s doctor talk that means she was beaten to death,” the prosecutor said.

But Brady claimed that other factors contributed to the death, especially asphyxiation that occured when the adults hung the child over a window sill for fresh air.

“The events began with punishing Dayna Broussard for taking a piece of zucchini from another child’s plate and being obstinate about it,” French said. “It escalated to terrorizing the other children.

“It turned into a battle of wills between 8-year-old, 60-pound, strong-willed Dayna Broussard against the will of these four defendants,” the prosecutor said. “The wills of the four defendants prevailed that night, and Dayna Broussard is dead.”

Defense attorney Jack Bernstein, representing Doolittle, argued in his 40-minute closing statement that the prosecution did not prove that Dayna Broussard died of a beating, citing Brady’s testimony.

“The cause of death is extremely important,” Bernstein said. “The prosecution says the beating caused her death. But there is no evidence that the child died of blunt-force trauma.”

Concern for Girl

Bernstein also attempted to portray the defendants as concerned for the girl’s health when she began having trouble breathing.

“Their first reaction was to put her in a window for cool, fresh air,” he said. “We know now it was a foolish and tragic thing to do.”