LEBANON, Tenn., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A Tennessee pediatrician is on trial, charged with killing the 4-year-old girl she and her husband adopted from China.
Dr. Deborah Wen-Yee Mark is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and child abuse, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported.
Kairissa Mark died in 2010, a few months after she arrived in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and two days after she suffered a severe head injury.
Mark told police in a recorded interview in 2010 that she and her husband had trouble with Kairissa from the moment she arrived in their home. She acknowledged that as she became more frustrated she reacted physically, hitting Kairissa and pinching her.
She said on the night Kairissa was injured she threw the little girl down on a bed and she hit her head on the wall as she fell.
Mark's lawyers suggested Wednesday that Steven Mark might have been the one that caused the fatal injury, NewsChannel5.com reported. He faces child abuse charges but is not charged with murder.
Mark told police she had never seen her husband hit Kairissa.
