LITTLE VALLEY — A key witness was ill Tuesday, postponing day three of Leslie Finch’s child homicide trial in Cattaraugus County Court.

Proceedings are slated to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday with another round of prosecution witnesses, particularly medical examiners, probing the April 2015 death of 1-year-old Mila Whipple. The baby’s mother, Finch, 26, of Kill Buck, allegedly shook and squeezed her, causing a traumatic brain injury.

“We want to have all of the medical experts testify on the same day, so that we can each consult with our experts during the testimony in order to make it more productive and meaningful,” said District Attorney Lori Rieman, who is prosecuting the case and seeking the maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life on charges including murder, manslaughter, assault and endangerment. “Unfortunately, one of the doctors became sick, as a result of working over the long weekend, so their testimony was postponed until the nearest day that they could be present.”

Finch’s defense attorney, Jason Schmidt of Fredonia, said he expects to call at least one medical expert. Closing statements in the non-jury trial are expected soon, leaving the verdict to visiting Judge William Boller of Erie County, who is presiding over the trial due to a familial conflict with a Cattaraugus County Court official and someone involved in the case.

Mila died April 26, 2015, at Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, two days after being airlifted from Olean General Hospital in an unresponsive state.

Finch was indicted July 9, 2015, and she pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, a class A-1 felony; first-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault, class B felonies; second-degree manslaughter, a class C felony; reckless assault of a child and second-degree assault, class D felonies; and endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor. One count of second-degree assault was dropped.

She is free on $100,000 bond.

Finch and Schmidt opted for the non-jury trial. Before the trial began, the defense counsel said widespread public knowledge of the case would make it difficult to find unbiased jurors. The hashtag “#JusticeForMila” is commonly seen on social media postings on the topic.

The first two days of the trial, Monday and Tuesday last week, saw testimony for the prosecution from police investigators, and close family members, friends and babysitters.

Some witnesses revealed a pattern of concern for Mila’s health in the weeks leading to her death.

Authorities allege Finch shook the baby in anger over a recent breakup with the father, Matthew Whipple. Rieman has attempted to portray Finch’s alleged partying lifestyle and being “obsessed” with male companionship as precursors to neglect.

The district attorney said Finch had not taken Mila to recent doctor’s appointments, even to investigate a lump in the baby’s back — reportedly noticed by those close to her in late March — which an autopsy later revealed to be a spinal fracture. The mother allegedly lied to family members and friends about seeing a doctor, Rieman claimed.

The prosecution’s case, Schmidt has countered, is a “three-ring circus” meant to distract the court from what actually happened the day of the fatal injury. He said it’s unclear who had custody of the child at the time the fatal injury occurred.

“This is the ring I’m going to ask the court to shut down,” Schmidt said in his opening statement. “This is the ring of bad-character evidence, this is the ring of propensity evidence, this is the circumstances that the state wants to put at the front of Your Honor’s attention. It’s to say, ‘This individual who’s on trial for murder, for murdering her own daughter, she didn’t act in conformity with Your Honor’s expectations; she didn’t act in conformity with the community’s expectations.’

“You have this giant leap from being a mother to murderer. They will suggest to Your Honor that it’s a baby step.”

Mila was rushed to the emergency room twice in the month before her death. Some witnesses who testified last Monday and Tuesday claimed the baby was not herself, had lost her appetite and stopped trying to walk.

Then on April 24 that year, emergency responders transported the unresponsive baby from a baby sitter’s Broad Street apartment in Salamanca to Olean General Hospital and from there to Women & Children’s.

Investigator Ken Rice of the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office testified to an “unusual” interview with Finch on April 25 as Mila was in a coma. Her inability to recall recent occurrences raised questions over whether she was being “intentionally deceptive,” he said.

Whipple, the bereaved father who took the stand on day one, alleged Finch was “upbeat” and could be seen “taking selfies” the day of Mila’s wake.

Amanda Calkins, a former mutual friend and jailmate of Finch’s, on the trial’s second day claimed the defendant referred to Mila as “it” during rec yard conversations overheard at Cattaraugus County Jail.

Commenting before the trial began, Schmidt said it would be a “David versus Goliath” fight against “the state and all of its resources.”