Candace Newmaker died last year after a so-called rebirthing therapy, a 70-minute procedure caught on videotape and played for the jury last week.

"The star witness in this particular case is a piece of plastic and magnetic tape," said Scott Robinson, a local defense attorney.

Two Evergreen therapists -- Connell Watkins, 54, and Julie Ponder, 40 -- are on trial for child abuse resulting in death. If the jury convicts them on the felony charges, they could each receive from 16 years to 48 years in prison.

When the videotape was played last Thursday, Candace's screams pierced the courtroom. Some jurors wept.

Candace was brought to Colorado by her adoptive mom, Jeane Newmaker of Durham, N.C., for what Newmaker believed was an attachment disorder. The girl was wrapped in a flannel sheet and placed under pillows to simulate a womb.

Prosecutors say she was asphyxiated during the April 18 procedure at Watkins' home. The therapists' attorneys say she died of a heart problem brought on by the many medications she was taking for her emotional problems.

The 14 jurors, including 12 who will consider the therapists' fate and two alternates, are:

-- A technical writer for a federal agency who has five grown children. He and his wife served as foster parents for 25 children over a six-year period. The children were mostly ages 5 and younger, the juror said, adding, "We couldn't say no to babies." One of the foster children had neurological and emotional problems.

While watching the "holding therapy" tapes on Friday, he laughed out loud when Candace would make a quick retort. When Watkins asked Candace why she was in Evergreen, the girl shot back, "To get tortured, that's why."

-- A woman who taught second grade briefly before quitting to get married and raise two boys and a girl. She takes notes during the trial and seemed particularly interested in a state regulator's testimony that Watkins was an unlicenced therapist. While watching difficult parts of the video she placed a hand to her face to cover her reaction from the spectators.

-- A man who grew up on a farm as part of a large Catholic family and is now a construction supervisor. He is divorced and has a 13-year-old daughter.

When asked about the old fable of the boy who cried wolf, he said he would still come running no matter how many times the boy called.

"When it comes to a child you still have to check on them," he said.

-- A working mother who has lived in Jefferson County for 20 years and has a job at a grocery store. She has two sons, ages 12 and 15, and said she likes to get second opinions when seeking any medical procedures for her children.

She openly wept during the rebirthing video, placing her face in her hands and accepting tissues from the juror next to her. She also cried during some of the holding therapy videotape on Friday.

-- A woman who works in real estate said she found the case "very troubling." She said she'd rather not hear about bad things, that she looks away at the "scary or violent" parts of movies and doesn't read newspapers.

"I think I really am the queen of denial," she said.

-- A self-employed medical transcriptionist who has a 25-year-old daughter. She said she'd argue with a doctor if she believed the treatment was not right. On Friday, she appeared to enjoy a child psychiatrist's testimony that another doctor had been wrong about some early treatment Candace received.

-- A woman who has two children, a 9-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy. She often wiped away tears, sometimes taking off her glasses to dry her eyes, while watching the rebirthing video.

-- A municipal worker who is married and has a 10-year-old daughter. He works as a volunteer firefighter and knows CPR. He has a sister who is schizophrenic and said she is fine when she is on her medications.

-- A divorced father of three teen-agers, two daughters and a son. He served in the Coast Guard in the past and knows CPR.

-- A father who has two children and works as a welder. His children have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, another condition that has been ascribed to Candace. He said he doesn't like to think about "unpleasant issues," like child abuse and added that the proseuction will "have to

prove their case."

-- A divorced mother of an 11-year-old son who said she's been a practitioner of raiki for two years. She described raiki as an alternative practice using "universal life-force energy," and said she practices it every day.

She also serves as a youth mentor at her church, helping troubled girls.

-- A woman who is a former day care provider and mother of six. She gave up her 10-year day care business when her children got older. She operated her day care center in her home, and said she appreciated the state regulations on safety and tried to go beyond what was required.

-- An electrical wholesale sales representative who has two daughters, both in their 30s. He said he and his wife lost a child in 1979.

-- A man who has lived in Jefferson County for a decade and works as an electrician. He and his wife have a 2-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son.

April 9, 2001