Trial starts in 2014 death of toddler Athena Ramey

Brianna Richards held her head in her hands and sobbed as she heard the recording of her 911 call the day her daughter was fatally injured.

Richards was the first witness in the felony murder and child abuse of her former boyfriend, Anthony Ball, 30, charged with the 2014 death of Athena Ramey. Testimony continues Wednesday before Calhoun County Circuit Judge John Hallacy.

Ball is charged with causing a severe head injury to the 20-month-old child on Dec. 18, 2014, in the Marshall home she shared with Richards.

For 20 minutes Richards sat on the witness stand and listened to the recording of her voice screaming to an emergency dispatch operator to send help for her daughter.

"My daughter is not breathing," Richards says on the call. "She is not breathing at all. Don't let my baby die."

Richards said she was working at an adult foster care home when Ball called to say Athena "was not waking up and her lips were a funny color."

She told Assistant Prosecutor Tamera Towns that she told Ball to take the toddler to Oaklawn Hospital, which was two blocks from their home.

Instead, she said, Ball put Athena and his own two young daughters in the car and drove 10 to 15 minutes to where Richards was working.

Richards, crying on the witness stand and screaming in the 911 call, was directed that day to start CPR until firefighters and paramedics were dispatched.

"All she is doing is gurgling," Richards tells the dispatcher at one point.

"At least her heart is beating. That is good right?" she said later.

And finally, "Athena, baby. Please wake up."

The child was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo where she was pronounced dead the next day.

Assistant Prosecutor Karen Pawloski told the jury in her opening statement that the child sustained a massive injury to her brain.

Pawloski said the injuries were more than from a childhood fall.

"The injuries were inflicted," she told the jury. "Not every day that child injuries are so tremendous."

She told the jury Ball was caring for the girl and is responsible for her death.

But defense attorney Kymberly Schroder said while the child was hurt, "nobody knows what happened. The experts agree on the injuries but they just don't agree on how she got them."

"KIds get up and fall all the time," Schroder said. "Sometimes children fall and have accidents at home and sometimes they die. The prosecution is going to ask you to guess and rely on your emotions."

Richards told the jury that her daughter had fallen on her face on Dec. 3 at an aquatic center and was a passenger in a minor car accident about three or four days before she was severely injured.

In both earlier incidents doctors said the injuries were minor, she said.

William Ramey II, the biological father and former husband of Richards, said he talked to his daughter on the phone about 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 18 and she sounded normal.

"Nothing caused any alarm," he said.

Three hours later Richards was screaming for someone to  save her child.

Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson