Posted on: Friday, June 18, 2004

Infant's death called accident

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A man accused of beating his 8-week-old son to death in October 2003 had tried to persuade the mother to abort the pregnancy and suggested that he might drop the 2-week-old infant from an apartment balcony, city Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader told a Circuit Court jury yesterday.

Six weeks after making the threat about the balcony, Derrick Smith fatally battered the child when left alone with him to baby-sit, Trader said.

But state Deputy Public Defender Ronette Kawakami said Kelbey Bridenstine died as the result of a tragic accident. She said Smith had fallen asleep with the baby on the couch, woke up at about 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 when the baby began crying and was carrying the child in his arm when the boy suddenly flipped over and fell face first into the tile floor.

Smith, who was in the Army when he struck up a relationship with the boy's mother, Ericka Bridenstine, was charged with second-degree murder.

In his opening statement, Trader said Smith was unhappy at the news that Bridenstine was pregnant with his child, had a rocky relationship with her and gave differing accounts of how the baby was injured to police, firefighters and paramedics who arrived at Bridenstine's Salt Lake apartment after Smith called 911. Bridenstine was not home when the baby was injured.

Trader said the baby wasn't sick and didn't die from illness or disease.

"He died at the hands of his baby-sitter, a person known to his mom and trusted by his mom, someone who knew Kelbey the whole 54 days of his life," Trader said.

He said city Medical Examiner Dr. Kanthi von Guenthner would testify that the infant's injuries could not possibly have been accidental.

But Kawakami told the jury that while Smith was unhappy at first with the news that Bridenstine was pregnant, he returned to Hawai'i from Los Angeles just before the baby's birth so that he could help Bridenstine.

Kawakami said that in the weeks after the baby was born, Smith had decided he wanted to be part of a family unit that included his new son, Ericka Bridenstine, and Bridenstine's 3-year-old son from a prior relationship.

Smith gave up his own aspirations of going to school in Los Angeles, so he could learn how to film skateboard and surfing events, so he could be with Bridenstine and his son.

"When the baby is born, he's very happy. He never threatened to harm the baby," Kawakami said.

She said Smith was "horrified" by what had happened to the baby after he dropped the infant.

"He admitted dropping the boy, he doesn't try to hide, he doesn't hop a plane to the Mainland," Kawakami said.

She said what happened to the baby "was a tragic accident, but that's not a crime."

Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.