New autopsy in girl’s death finds nothing

Five months ago, authorities exhumed the body of a 14-month-old girl who they believe died of injuries inflicted by her baby sitter a dozen years ago.

The new autopsy results, however, didn't produce any new information about the circumstances surrounding the death of Kierra Harrison, said people familiar with the autopsy report.

Assistant Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said a new autopsy was performed on Nov. 21. The medical examiner's findings were "consistent with the original examination" done more than a decade ago, he said.

Kierra died on March 5, 1997, of massive head trauma. Authorities said Kierra was injured two days before her death at a Spring Valley day care that Alica Wegner was running out of her home.

Wegner, 44, is facing a retrial on murder charges in District Court. Her new trial started this week before District Judge Michelle Leavitt.

Jury selection, which began Tuesday, is expected to last several days.

Wegner, a licensed day care worker, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1998 of killing Kierra. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

The Nevada Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 2000 and granted her a new trial. Justices objected to a jury instruction stating that a killing by child abuse is first-degree murder, regardless of whether the killing was intentional. They also ruled that the judge should have granted a defense request that jurors be permitted to consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Wegner is currently free on bail. She has always maintained her innocence.

Authorities had hoped the new autopsy would show when, exactly, Kierra was injured.

During Wegner's first trial, experts had testified that Kierra's injuries occurred while she was in Wegner's home.

But another expert told the jury that she suspected Kierra was injured about a week before she died and the wound hadn't fully healed. Then Kierra was injured again at Weg-ner's home, causing the first injury to become worse. The injury at Wegner's home could have been caused by a minor fall, the expert testified.

The new autopsy didn't clear up those issues, Wegner's attorneys said.

"What the state hoped to have found with the exhuming of the body, they couldn't," said Kristina Wildeveld, one of Wegner's attorneys.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the case since it is in trial.

Pamela Rowse, Kierra's grandmother, said she was subpoenaed as a witness in the new trial. She confirmed that the new autopsy didn't provide answers.

"We weren't able to discover any additional information," she said.

Kierra had been interred for more than a decade at Palm Mortuary on Eastern Avenue when she was exhumed.

Robert Langford, who also represents Wegner, said he wasn't surprised with the results.

"That's what happens when you wait 12 years to do what you should have done at the time of the original autopsy," he said.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.