WHITEHOUSE, Texas — After concluding witness testimony Wednesday, the prosecution rested its case in the trial of a Smith County woman accused of abusing her adopted twin sons, who were 13 years old at the time, in 2019.
Cheryl Layne, a nurse practitioner, is charged with four counts of injury to a child with the intent to cause bodily injury.
She and her husband, Mark Layne (a Tyler Police Department officer at the time) were both arrested in September 2019 after the 13-year-old twins reported being abused by their adopted parents to a school resource officer.
Mark Layne has not yet been indicted (formally charged) in this case and has had no court dates.
Both twin sons took to the witness stand Wednesday in the 114th District Court. CBS19 is not stating the children’s names as they are underage.
The arrest affidavit lists numerous allegations of abuse, including beating the children with an archery arrow, a belt and their hand and making them eat out of the trash.
While on the witness stand, one of the twins said, “she told us if we ever notified CPS (Child Protective Services) she would kill us.”
The defense attorney asked why he didn’t speak up to the investigators when they were questioned one by one. He answered to the prosecutor later on, he felt pressured to say certain things when in the presence of his parents.
The first twin also mentioned Cheryl Layne would be the main parent to discipline them.
The second twin took the witness stand late Wednesday afternoon and agreed with his brother’s claims, describing a moment when his brother went to his adopted father for help.
"He (one of the children) said, 'you’re a police officer, don’t you care about us?," one of the twins said talking about Mark Layne.
"You’re supposed to stop this stuff. I believe he (Mark Layne) stood up and said something to Cheryl and Cheryl said, ‘no, you’re always making me leave I’m staying this time,'" the boy said.
One of the twins testified on Wednesday he and his brother (the adopted children) were treated like slaves.
A DNA lab official testified regarding DNA evidence saying that it would be difficult to differentiate collected samples between the boys because they are identical. Testing shows that blood found at Laynes’ residence is most likely at least one of the twins.
The state told the jury that they rested their case. The defense is set to begin calling witnesses Thursday morning.
ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
Cheryl Layne slammed one of the boy’s heads against the wall twice and hit both of the children with an archery arrow, urging them to clean their room faster, according to the arrest affidavit.
The affidavit said during one of the interviews, one of the boys reported Cheryl Layne said, “I should use this arrow more, it will get them more in gear." The boys say Mark Layne told her to quit and leave.
In another incident, the twins said Mark Layne shoved one of their faces into the trash can after realizing the kids had thrown away leftover sloppy joes, according to the affidavit. The document also states Mark Layne threw food from the trash into the child’s face.
The document also mentions other incidents of the children being forced to eat out of the trash can.
The affidavit alleges that both Cheryl and Mark Layne hit the children, including with their hands and a belt.
In the affidavit, the boys told investigators they were afraid and wanted to run away. During a search of the Laynes’ home, CPS found aluminum arrows and a brown belt on the kitchen table and evidence of blood consistent with what the children reported.