Father takes the stand in murder trial
COEUR d'ALENE — Hiram Wilson was never ruled a suspect in the murder of his 22-month-old daughter Ezra, the crime his ex-girlfriend, Heather L. Crawford, is accused of committing.
Authorities cleared the 25-year-old Silver Valley man — the son of former Pinehurst Police Chief Rocky Wilson — despite a past that includes being convicted of two counts of accessory to murder in the 2008 Dobson Pass double homicide.
On day two of the trial Thursday, which alleges the 28-year-old Crawford suffocated Ezra in the couple's Kingston home Aug. 22, 2014, Wilson became emotional when thinking back to that tragic evening.
He also recalled a loving relationship with his child.
"I could be having a bad day and she would light up when she saw me," Wilson said to the courtroom.
He was the lone person to take the stand Thursday, a witness for the prosecution who was peppered by three hours of cross-examination questions by Crawford's defense attorney, Anne Taylor.
Taylor, disconcerted by the fact Wilson was never considered a suspect, pressed to point out inconsistencies in Wilson’s answers and earlier testimony.
"You were emotional today, but you weren't during preliminary arguments," Taylor said.
Crawford claims, the night of Ezra's death, she woke up to a cold breeze and open doors before noticing the baby wasn't in her playpen. When she walked into the bathroom, she saw the words "murder scumbag daughter" written on the mirror before waking Wilson. Together, the pair searched the house before they found the child in a small bed, unresponsive.
Taylor points out that in one interview, Wilson said Crawford claimed someone had broken into the home but, in another interview, he didn't mention a break-in. She also pointed to an inconsistency in Wilson’s statements about whether he regularly locked the home.
The defense attorney had Wilson read his own transcibed testimony while on the stand.
Wilson was asked if he thought Crawford, who he broke up with a month after Ezra’s death, treated the child well.
“Seemed decent, most of the time,” Wilson said.
The defense also brought up Wilson's past, noting he spent time in prison for his role in the Dobson Pass murders, where a friend shot and killed a young couple for their car so they could use it for a road trip. He testified against a co-defendant to get a lesser charge.
Prosecutor Benjamin Allen asked Wilson if he received any threats since being released from prison. Wilson said he received a Facebook message from a local man who said he hopes Wilson’s daughter gets the same thing the murdered couple got.