A Westmoreland County jury heard evidence Tuesday that while 5-year-old Landon Maloberti was tortured by his parents, he still might have survived his injuries if he had received prompt medical attention.
Dr. Lori Frasier, a pediatrician at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center who specializes in diagnosis of child abuse cases, testified that the injuries Landon Maloberti sustained in January 2023 were inflicted and not the result of an accidental fall. The boy suffered more than 100 bruises and a severe brain injury.
It was the seventh day of the murder trial for Lauren Maloberti, the boy’s mother.
“In my opinion children do not cause fatal brain injuries to themselves,” testified Frasier.
Prosecutors said Frasier was likely the last witness they plan to call to testify against Lauren Maloberti, 36, of Delmont.
Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr said the prosecution expects to rest its case when the trial reconvenes Wednesday morning.
Defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky said no decision has been made about whether Lauren Maloberti will testify.
Both Lauren Maloberti and Jacob Maloberti, her husband, are charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, child endangerment and other related offenses in connection with death of her adopted son. Landon Maloberti was hospitalized on Jan. 30, 2023, and pronounced dead a week later.
The spouses are being tried separately.
Prosecutors presented 46 witnesses during their case against Lauren Maloberti, including testimony from her husband. Jacob Maloberti, 36, resumed his testimony Tuesday morning. During questioning by Gorzelsky, Jacob Maloberti continued to deny any involvement or specific knowledge of how his son was injured.
On Monday, he testified he initially accepted his wife’s explanation for the child’s injuries, but no longer believes her claims.
He told jurors he deferred to his wife when it came to most parental decisions, but that he supported her efforts to discipline Landon, who he described as a difficult child. That discipline included time outs and spankings, he said.
“I felt she had the better idea of what to do,” he testified on Tuesday. “She had more experience being a parent with the other kids. Even though I was a parental figure, I felt I didn’t have a right to some things.
Prosecutors contend a string of text messages between Jacob Maloberti and his wife dating back to early 2022 and continued through Landon’s death detailed a growing frustration the parents had both in their marriage and caring for the boy his wife adopted in 2019.
Those messages, read to jurors by Westmoreland County Detective Jenna Derco, revealed an escalating disaffection between the parents and Landon. In several emails, both Malobertis referred to the child with an expletive.
In an email to her husband on Jan. 6, 2023, a month before the child’s death, Lauren Maloberti wrote to her husband, “He’s always an [expletive].” Eleven days later, in another email she sent to her husband, she wrote, “I’m going to kill him.”
Prosecutors continued to lay out their case against Lauren Maloberti, suggesting to jurors that she had no explanation for what caused the boy’s fatal injuries.
When questioned by police at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in the early morning hours of Jan. 31, 2023, just hours after Landon was hospitalized, now retired Westmoreland County detective Richard Kranitz said Maloberti told detectives multiple stories, including claims the boy fell and hit his head two days earlier.
Kranitz testified Lauren Maloberti delayed meeting with police for several hours. When she finally spoke with investigators, she focused on claims her son suffered from from mental illness, autism and was constantly misbehaved.
“She was basically bashing the boy who was on the bed down the hall,” Kranitz told jurors.
Maloberti told police Landon fell and hit his head on Jan. 29, but appeared normal in the hours that followed, Kranitz testified. He said Maloberti claimed the child ate breakfast, complained he felt ill and slept much of the next day. She told police she was forced to carry him to the table for lunch and dinner on Jan. 30. At the dinner table he took one bite of food, vomited and “spaced out,” prompting her take him to AHN Hospital in Hempfield, Kranitz said.
Prosecutors contend Maloberti’s explanation for her son’s injuries don’t add up.
Derco testified Jacob Maloberti’s now 10-year-old biological son, Joey, from a previous marriage told investigators last month he saw Lauren Maloberti strike Landon in the head with a frying pan. Joey Maloberti testified last week he did not remember the incident.
Other witnesses testified the child at first initially claimed he heard what he described as a bang, saw Lauren Maloberti, his stepmother, hold a pan and told another relative he witnessed Landon being struck by an object.
Frasier, testifying by video, told the jury that Landon’s fatal injuries were caused by prolonged child abuse that she described as torture.
“I feel like he was likely suffering the effects of his injuries most of the day Monday [Jan. 30, 2023], if not the day before. By the time he reached the hospital he was in critical condition. His brain was deteriorating. His brain was so badly injured before he went to the hospital,” Frasier said.
Under questioning from defense attorney Tim Dawson, Frasier testified Maloberti was an experienced parent and would have noticed the deterioration of her son’s physical condition.
Dawson asked if Landon would have survived had he been taken to the hospital a day earlier.
“If he had any chance for survival, he would have had to be taken to the hospital earlier. If he had gotten any treatment at all, he had a chance at survival,” Frasier testified.