A Howard County Circuit Court jury continued to deliberate late last night in the trial of a 20-year-old woman charged with scalding her 15-month-old daughter in a bathtub. The defense called no witnesses.

Mary V. Cabassa of the 8500 block of Storch Woods Drive in Savage is charged with child abuse, first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. If convicted, she faces four to seven years in jail.

Judge Lenore R. Gelfman instructed the jury to take as much time as it needed to reach a decision.

The two-day trial included testimony yesterday from Sgt. Roland Denton, a former detective in the Howard County Police Department's child abuse unit, who said Cabassa gave differing accounts of how her daughter, Skylar Nestar, was burned.

Denton read a written statement given Nov. 13, 1997, -- two days after the incident -- by Cabassa. In it, the defendant told police she filled the bathtub of her apartment with bleach and hot water to clean the tub. She said she shut the bathroom door and went into the kitchen to make Skylar's dinner. Moments later, she heard Skylar scream.

"Skylar came to her with what looked like toilet paper on her feet," Denton said, as his voice cracked with emotion. The 'toilet paper' was skin hanging from Skylar's feet, Denton said.

In a 911 tape played for the jury, Cabassa told the operator she had just gotten out of the tub, then minutes later that she had been using boiling water to clean the tub. Skylar is heard screaming constantly during the tape.

'Very upset'

Cabassa's accounts differed, according to her attorney, Sam Truette, because she was "very upset" at the time.

Showing pictures of the child's scalded body, a doctor and medical professionals at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's burn unit told the jurors Tuesday that Skylar suffered second- and third-degree burns that would leave permanent scars on her legs, back, feet and groin from water estimated at 135 degrees.

Gerrie Stancik, a social worker who specializes in working with burn victims, testified that Skylar could not have fallen into the tub -- a theory the defense claimed. If Skylar had fallen into the tub, she would have also suffered burns to her hands and face, Stancik said, and suffered head injuries from falling head-first.

"The only way that's logical that Skylar received burns over 48 percent of her body is that someone held her in that boiling water," prosecutor Cindy Johnson said in her closing argument. "That someone was her mother, Mary Cabassa."

Lying on the courtroom floor, Johnson attempted to demonstrate how difficult, according to Stancik's testimony, it would be for a 15-month-old to position herself in the tub to get burned where she did.

Testimony called 'guess'

Truette sharply criticized Stancik's testimony, calling it a "guess" backed up with little scientific evidence. He pointed to the lack of evidence in Denton's investigation of the apartment Cabassa shared with her boyfriend, Harry Swedenburg.

Truette said Denton failed to find evidence of Cabassa abusing the child. The only bruises found on Skylar, Truette said, were from a failed IV line in her left arm.

"[Stancik] didn't know how high the tub was. She never measured that child. She didn't know the temperature of the water. She fired off an opinion," Truette said.

He added: "The fact [Cabassa] left a bathroom full of scalding water and bleach and failed to ensure the room was secure is at the most extreme negligent behavior, but it is not reckless endangerment. Stupid, perhaps. Inept, yes, but reckless, no."

Pub Date: 12/10/98