Rebirthing Therapy Trial Is Opening

The therapy session was meant to bring Candace Newmaker closer to her adoptive mother by having the 10-year-old girl push her way out of a blanket to simulate birth.

But a videotape shows Candace begging for her life as she tries to escape the blanket meant to represent a womb. She died of asphyxiation on April 19, 2000, one day after the so-called rebirthing therapy.

The tape, prosecutors say, is the key evidence against two psychotherapists charged in her death.

Jury selection in Golden began in the trial of Connell Watkins, 54, known for her work with children with reactive attachment disorder, and her colleague Julie Ponder, 40.