Friday, May 2, 2003 | 9:50 a.m.
A woman who evaded police for nearly six years after authorities said she delivered her baby in a toilet at the Lady Luck Hotel will face a murder charge in District Court, a Las Vegas Justice of the Peace ruled on Thursday.
After a preliminary hearing, Justice of the Peace Nathaniel Reed ruled that there was enough evidence to warrant multiple charges against Kristine Sue Westin stemming from the newborn's death on July 13, 1997.
Westin, 37, faces a second-degree murder charge, along with charges of child abuse, possession of a controlled substance and drug charges.
Westin also faces a shoplifting charge in Las Vegas Justice Court, said her attorney, Drew Christensen.
Prosecutors allege Westin was seven months pregnant when she delivered a nearly three-pound son she'd planned to name Kyle Westin. The placenta and the umbilical cord were still attached to the infant when it was found.
Police say Westin and the baby's father, Kevin Dale Woo, 35, left the baby in the toilet and didn't call 911 until about 40 minutes after the birth.
Dr. Sheldon Green, a pathologist who performed an autopsy on the infant, testified that air found in the baby's lungs and stomach means it was alive when it drowned in the toilet.
"An effort to breathe, at least a gasp, had to have taken place," he said. "He had to have been outside of the mother to get air."
Green said the baby died of asphyxiation by drowning and ruled the death a homicide.
"By allowing it to stay in the water without any obvious effort to resuscitate it places this in the non-accidental area and is therefore homicidal," he said.
But Christensen said he plans to further investigate the infant's cause of death. The results, he said, could be paramount to his case.
"We want to research it," he said. "If the baby was never alive then she can't be charged with murder."
Westin was arrested in Seattle in March after she was detained on a suspicion of theft. The couple fled to the state before tests that would determine how the baby died were complete.
Woo, who also faced murder charges in the incident, killed himself during a 30-hour standoff with police when he was apprehended at a Seattle hotel, police said.
Authorities belive the couple could have made a suicide pact, Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon said.
While a motive for the alleged killing is still unclear, Thursday's testimony revealed that drugs could have played a role.
Cocaine and a cocaine by-product were found in the baby's bloodstream, Green said, which means Westin had ingested the drug within 24 hours of the infant's birth.
Green said there is no way to determine how much cocaine Westin had in her system or the frequency of her drug use. He was also unable to determine whether the drugs caused the premature birth.
"It doesn't help anything, that's for sure," he said.
Drug paraphernalia, including two homemade crack pipes, were found in the hotel room, a Metro detective testified.
Green said infants the size and weight of Westin's baby survive every day and that the baby could have lived had he been removed from the water immediately.
"There clearly would have been a chance of survival," he said. "How good of one? I'm not going to try to guess."
Paramedic Steven Kramer said Westin was very calm and was still sitting on the toilet when he arrived at the hotel room within five minutes of the 911 call.
Westin told paramedics she'd began cramping the day before, but did not want to go to a doctor, he said.
"She said something came out of her and it went into the water," he said.
Westin said that Woo had placed his hand near the handle of the toilet, but did not try to flush it.
Ambulance technicians gave Westin the highest score possible on a scale that measured her ability to reason and understand while being transported, Kramer testified.
"She was calm," he said. "She was just sitting there waiting for us."
Westin will be arraigned before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure on May 8.
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