WISCASSET — Faith Lewis sat in the wooden witness box in Lincoln County Superior Court on Wednesday, prepared to recount the days leading up to her daughter’s death.

She had told prosecutors she was OK to see photos of 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan’s bruised and injured body, she had already seen her daughter that Christmas morning two years ago when she found Makinzlee unresponsive in her bed.

But when Assistant Attorney General Jen Ackerman displayed the photo to the courtroom, Lewis started sobbing and asked prosecutors to take it down.

“What did he do to my baby?” she cried out.

Her outburst led the judge to declare a mistrial in the state’s murder case against Lewis’ former boyfriend, who they say killed the toddler sometime between Christmas Eve and the next morning.

Tyler Witham-Jordan, 30, was charged with one count of depraved indifference murder after a 10-month investigation and pleaded not guilty in January. His defense attorneys have blamed Faith for the toddler’s death. State prosecutors have been adamant that Lewis is a victim, not a suspect.

Lewis, 32, of Edgecomb, testified for several hours Wednesday. After she reacted to the photo, the court took a long break and the defense asked the judge to declare a mistrial, arguing that showing Lewis those photos created a prejudice against their client.

“Everybody in this trial knows that those pictures are dynamite,” said Daniel Dubé, one of Witham-Jordan’s attorneys. “The state purposefully put forth a stick of dynamite at an unexpected time and there was an explosive reaction by Faith Lewis. This was in no way unpredictable and it was predicted.”

Ackerman said Lewis’ observations of Makinzlee’s injuries were “highly relevant” to determine when they might have happened. She suggested the court individually ask the jurors whether they heard Lewis’ comment and whether it affects their ability to be impartial. If so, she said the court could choose alternate jurors.

But Superior Justice Daniel Billings said he has never seen a witness with such an extreme, emotional reaction and determined that it was not a “bell that can be unrung.”

“What occurred in this courtroom could have been avoided,” Billings said. “And, even if it was accidental, is so extreme that I cannot be confident that a result of this trial would be fair and just.”

He said he was concerned that the jury continued to hear her cries during the break because of the “limitations” of the small, historic courthouse.

Still, everyone seemed convinced there would be second trial. Billings suggested that the attorneys discuss a possible solution for the poor acoustics.

In an interview after the hearing, Dubé said it’s hard to say whether the trial could be moved to a different courthouse. He said he expects the new trial to start in early spring, partly because both the state and defense attorneys have busy schedules.

But overall he was happy with the decision, and said the defense team will continue to fight to have the case dismissed.

“We’re really satisfied with the court process and we think this was a just decision,” Dubé said.

Ackerman declined to speak about the ruling. 

MAKINZLEE’S DEATH

The state had accused Witham-Jordan of beating Makinzlee to death at some point between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning while experiencing opioid withdrawal. But neither side has shared plans to introduce eyewitnesses.

Makinzlee shared a room and bunk bed with Witham-Jordan’s 9-year-old daughter. On Wednesday, prosecutors showed photos of the bed, where it appeared a board from the upper bunk had fallen down onto Makinzlee’s mattress.

Prosecutors did not reference any statements from Witham-Jordan’s daughter about that night, which his attorneys have used to bolster their client’s claims of innocence.

Before the recess, Faith had told the jury she was worried about how long her 3-year-old daughter had been sleeping on Christmas Eve in 2022. Makinzlee hadn’t been feeling well and had slept through dinner, Lewis said, which was unusual because she never goes down for naps.

As Lewis got into bed that night after preparing the kids’ Christmas stockings, she texted Witham-Jordan, who was downstairs, and asked him to check on the girl.

“I trusted him at the time,” she said.

The next morning, Lewis said she went into her daughter’s room to tell her Santa had arrived, only to find her unresponsive in her bed. She picked her up and asked Witham-Jordan to start CPR as she called 911.

Earlier this week, the jury heard from technicians who helped scan the Edgecomb apartment for evidence that Christmas Day. They recovered a diaper with blood on it from a trash can in the bathroom, and a broken hair brush with a large mound of hair attached.

Lewis testified on Wednesday that the hairbrush did not belong to Makinzlee.

They also recovered a damp pair of jeans with syringes and an empty pill bottle in the pockets, and a damp purple T-shirt with blood stains. And in a yellow box, labeled in marker with Witham-Jordan’s name, police recovered packages of Suboxone.

In Makinzlee’s bedroom, they found a tissue with blood, and blood on her sheets and pillows. Near Makinzlee’s pillow was a camouflage print hat and a pair of sunglasses, which one evidence technician felt was “out of place” against Makinzlee’s pink Hello Kitty bed spread.

Witham-Jordan’s attorneys focused on evidence they say police didn’t collect — most notably, no one swabbed the area around the window, which had been open all night before Makinzlee was found. The fan was also turned on, police noted, but no one swabbed the knob for fingerprints or DNA evidence.

A TENSE CONVERSATION

A patrol sergeant from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office testified Monday that he observed a tense conversation between Witham-Jordan and his daughter hours after Makinzlee was found dead.

Sgt. Kevin Dennison was sent to the Edgecomb apartment hours after paramedics took Makinzlee’s body to a hospital in Damariscotta. Lewis left to follow the ambulance, leaving Witham-Jordan behind with Lewis’ two sons and his daughter.

Dennison said he asked Witham-Jordan several times what happened. Witham-Jordan was emotional, Dennison said, as he talked abut seeing Makinzlee covered in bruises and cold to the touch.

At first, Dennison said Witham-Jordan was very “personal” with his daughter, hugging her “rather tightly.” But then as Dennison was standing in another room, waiting for a second officer to arrive, he said he overheard Witham-Jordan verbally disciplining the girl.

“He just appeared to be really irritated … because his attitude went form hugging to being really upset and irritated with her,” Dennison said.

But that part of Dennison’s testimony was delivered with the jury out of the room – Witham-Jordan’s attorneys objected to the officer using anything that could be interpreted as general evidence about his character, and not directly related to the crime.

Staff Writer Emily Allen contributed to this report. 

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