Denver Jury Will See Video of Girl’s Death

A 70-minute videotape of a psychotherapy session will be the “star” witness at a trial of two therapists charged in the death of a 10-year-old girl who suffocated while wrapped in a blanket in a procedure designed to mimic the womb.

“It’s like a snuff film. It’s going to be very difficult for everybody in that courtroom to watch,” said Craig Silverman, a Denver attorney and former prosecutor.

The videotape, which one therapist allegedly told police would “hang us,” has never been shown publicly.

Connell Watkins, 54, and Julie Ponder 40, have been charged with reckless child abuse resulting in the death of Candace Newmaker after she underwent “rebirthing” therapy April 18 at Watkins’ clinic in her home in Evergreen, Colo.

If convicted, the therapists face 16 to 48 years in prison.

Potential jurors on Thursday will be given a questionnaire at the Jefferson County Courthouse in suburban Denver and return Friday for further questioning. Opening statements are expected to begin next week.

The controversial, new-age psychotherapy session was aimed at helping the troubled child forge a relationship with her adoptive mother, Jeane Newmaker, who allegedly paid Watkins $7,000.

According to court documents, Jeane Newmaker, who lived in Durham, N.C., with the child, asked Watkins, a psychotherapist for 20 years, to cure the girl’s “reactive attachment disorder,” meaning she had trouble bonding with her adoptive mother.

In the procedure the child was wrapped in a blanket to simulate the womb. Large pillows were placed around her and counselors then pressed in on the pillows to simulate a mother’s contractions and to push out through a twisted end at the top of her head, allowing her to be “reborn” to her adoptive mother.

But instead of working her way out of the blanket, the child begged for air, and the therapists berated her and ignored her pleas, according to prosecutors who have viewed the tape.

The girl told therapists seven times she could not breathe and said six times she was going to die. But instead of unwrapping her, the therapists said “you got to push hard if you want to be born, or do you want to stay in there and die?”

The procedure was taped, and the adoptive mother watched on closed-circuit television from another room.

According to an investigator who viewed the tape, there was a 20-minute lapse between the time the girl’s last breath could be heard on the tape to the time she was unwrapped. She was rushed to a local hospital where she died the next day.

Defense attorneys will paint a portrait of therapists who do what they do because they care about children, Silverman said.

“The problem in Colorado is that the title ‘therapist’ can be used by anyone who wants to hang up a shield,” said Rhea Farberman, spokeswoman for the American Psychological Assn. Parents must ask therapists whether they are licensed, she said. Watkins was not.

The defense will be walking a fine line when it comes to persuading the jury that the child needed the therapy because of her difficult behavior. Details of her behavior have not been disclosed, but children with attachment disorder can be unruly and unresponsive to their adoptive parents.