Attorneys of man suspected of killing two-year-old girl claim trial hinges on timeline of events

The case against a man suspected of killing a 2-year-old girl last year may hinge on a timeline established by the girl’s mother that defense attorneys claim is false.

Jason Obermiller, 32, is accused of killing of Adalynn Hoyt on Sept. 12. Hoyt is the daughter of Lovina Rainey, who was in a relationship with Obermiller in the past but wasn’t at the time of Hoyt’s death.

The trial began Wednesday, with attorneys on both sides describing a scene of chaos and confusion when Hoyt’s lifeless and rigid body was discovered. They also acknowledged the home was a less-than-ideal environment for a young child. Adalynn’s mother was an admitted drug user with multiple other users sharing the home with she and her four children.

Attorneys said Hoyt was not breathing when she was discovered by Rainey’s other 4-year-old daughter. Their mother was out partying that night and didn’t return until the early-morning hours. The attorneys also agreed that Hoyt died as a result of a kick or punch to the abdomen, and could have been alive for up to 30 minutes after receiving the blow.

Obermiller, who often cared for Hoyt and even shared a room with her, was gone from the home in the 3300 block of East 55th Avenue on the South Hill by the time the body was discovered, both sides agreed.

But nearly everything else leading up to the specifics of that night, and to the days preceding it, was under question by defense attorney Brian Raymon during his opening statements to the jury.

“The reason Jason Obermiller is in this courtroom today is based upon a timeline,” Raymon said to the jury of eight women and four men. “It was a timeline that proved to be false.”

He described a series of events that differed from what witnesses and Rainey herself told police. She didn’t leave the house at 9:45 p.m. the previous evening, as she claimed, he said, but instead left at 2 a.m., according to cellphone records. This point was important, because Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer Zappone spent much of her opening statement on the claim that Obermiller was the last person to see Hoyt alive when he took her to bed that night around 11 p.m.

Raymon also claimed Obermiller left the house at about 11 p.m., not later in the evening.

“It’s all based upon on a timeline,” Raymon repeated.

Meanwhile, Zappone focused on the fact that Hoyt died with a piece of pizza in her mouth, which was given to her by Obermiller, according to witnesses staying in the house who saw the two enter Obermiller’s room with pizza in hand. She said Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. John Howard found that detail important, since it means she died quickly.

“She didn’t have time to swallow the pizza,” Zappone said.

She also speculated on why Obermiller might kill the child in the first place. According to her statement, it was because Obermiller owed Mexican drug dealers money and drugs, and they were harassing him for both. She claimed Rainey was in a romantic relationship with one of the dealers, who goes by the nickname “Stranger,” and was with him the night Hoyt was killed.

Zappone said Obermiller was angry at Rainey for getting him into the mess since he was helping her sell drugs. She also said some of the people Rainey was seeing that night were after his car for payment.

“In anger and frustration, and with a 2-year-old who he’s trying to get to bed, Jason Obermiller wants to get out of that house fast,” she said. “He lashes out in anger on the 2-year-old wanting his affection, and he assaults Adalynn, places her in bed like Snow White, and gets out of that house.”

Jurors also heard from Ryan Palmberg, who was an AMR paramedic dispatched to the scene. He said he could tell “within seconds” that Hoyt was deceased, and said he found her wrapped in a blanket. He said it didn’t seem likely anyone had performed CPR on the child.

Defense attorney Raymon pressed him on this fact, and asked if Rainey appeared to touch or hold her daughter, to which Palmberg responded “no.” Raymon then asked if that made him “mad” or if he expressed any emotion towards this, at which point both state’s attorneys loudly objected and the jury was ushered from the room by Superior Court Judge John Cooney.

State attorneys said witnesses from AMR were barred from speaking about emotion in relation to the case, to which defense attorney Kevin Griffin said it was his fault for the misunderstanding.

The case is set to resume Thursday. Obermiller and Rainey are expected to take the stand during the trial.