Cable Guy Testifies He Saw Gigi Jordan's Autistic Son Typing On BlackBerry
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A cable guy who worked at the home of a socialite and former pharmaceutical millionaire was called by defense attorneys Thursday to back up the woman's story that her autistic son was able to express fear of his abusive father by typing messages on a BlackBerry.
Gigi Jordan is on trial, accused of killing her 8-year-old son, Jude Mirra, who died of a drug overdose in February 2010 at the Peninsula Hotel in Midtown.
Jordan testified last week that, though the boy was nonverbal, he learned to communicate with her by typing on a laptop and BlackBerry. She said that is how Jude told her he wanted to die and that his father and others had sexually abused him with bizarre satanic elements -- from being forced to drink blood and kill animals to being zapped with electricity.
Cable Guy Testifies He Saw Gigi Jordan's Autistic Son Typing On BlackBerry
The cable guy testified that Jordan had recruited him to hang around her house with Jude because the boy usually feared men but liked him, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported.
On the first visit, the child reached a hand out to his mother, the witness said. Jordan produced a BlackBerry and held the boy's arm while his fingers moved over the screen, the witness testified.
When she showed the cable guy the screen, it read, "I hate my dad. Dad does bad things," according to the witness.
Under cross-examination, the witness admitted while Jude's fingers were over the keyboard, the boy was looking off into space, his eyes wandering.
Last week, Jordan admitted on the witness stand that she gave her son a fatal dose of drugs. But she denied the scenario prosecutors have painted: that she climbed on top of the comatose boy, forcibly opened his mouth and shoved a lethal dose of prescription medication down his throat with a syringe.
Prosecutors said Jordan brought 5,918 pills to the hotel with her. She then used a pill crusher, orange juice and possibly vodka to make a poisonous cocktail that she forced into her son's mouth using a syringe, according to prosecutors.
Last month, Dr. Edward Barbieri, a forensic pharmacologist, told jurors he found extremely high levels of Xanax in the child's blood — 19 times what an adult would take. Barbieri said Jude also was fed a lot of Prozac and another seditive that reduces blood pressure, which was given to him at a deadly level of 20 to 40 times that of an adult dosage.
Jordan's lawyers say she was convinced her mob-connected ex-husband was going to kill her, leaving the child's biological father – who she claims sexually abused the boy — to care for him. In her mind, her son would be better off dead, the lawyer said.
The father denies the allegations and has never been charged. Her ex-husband has denied all her allegations and has sued her for slander.
Prosecutors say that whatever her worries, they didn't justify killing the boy.
"The only person he ever needed protection from was the one person he should have been able to rely on the most," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bodganos said in an opening statement last month.
Trained as a nurse, Jordan went on to launch companies that administer drugs to patients in their home. After making an estimated $40 million, she left her career to travel the country seeking medical answers for her son, who didn't speak, writhed in pain and screamed.
He was initially considered autistic, though doctors later diagnosed immune-system abnormalities, post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems, according to her court filings. Jordan said Wednesday that Jude wasn't autistic, but was severely traumatized by being sexually abused.
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