Posted: May 4, 08
9:44am
Up in this neck of the woods, we have a tragic case going to trial next week. It is the criminal trial, for second degree manslaughter and other related child endangerment and neglect charges, against a young woman whose 7 month old baby was brutally beaten and tortured over a 2 day period.
The young woman's roommate and possible boyfriend killed the baby. At the end of his first day of caring for the baby, she came home from work to find her baby with 2 black eyes and other bruises and evidence of injury (broken ribs). The roommate told her he had dropped the baby in the shower. She did not take her baby to the doctor. She took him shopping, and she took him to a community service agency where the roommate was doing mandatory community service work as part of his sentence for brutally beating a puppy the summer before.
The young woman was asked by numerous people whether she had taken the baby to a doctor. She lied and told them she had. She was exhorted to seek medical care, and lied and said she had. The community service staff called in a report to the child abuse hotline, which, for some reason, was not acted on expeditiously.
The next day, she left the baby with the roommate again. During the day he beat and bit and tortured the baby into unconsciousness. When she got home from work, they took the baby to the ER. The baby was med-evaced to an area medical center and put on life support.
The next day, Family Court ruled the baby should be taken from her custody. Her other 2 children were already in the care of her parents.
But by then, the baby was brain dead. It was simply a matter of taking him off life support.
The roommate never denied killing the baby. The young woman takes no responsibility for her neglectful actions. She blames the roommate, says she was afraid of him and did not take the baby for medical help for that reason.
She was offered 2 plea deals by the court and has refused both of them. I find this case somewhat incomprehensible. To me, you protect the little ones. You do whatever you can to protect the little ones. I think of what that 7 month old went through for 2 days, and how no one protected him or helped him--but he was taken out in public, to the mall even, where many people remember seeing him!-- and my heart breaks and I feel intensely enraged.
Friends and family of the young woman see her as the victim. They see this an an attempt to save their baby--the young woman, because the infant is beyond saving. I cannot see it that way. I went to that baby's funeral. Ever see a baby's coffin? About the size of a large cooler.
I really would like to hear other opinions about this to help me get my head on straight. This is happening in my community and has estranged me from some of my friends. To me, the young woman's actions are inexcusable, and if a mental health evaluation has deemed her competent to stand trial, which it has, then stand trial she should, and go to jail if necessary.
Because all I can think about is that 7 month old, tortured for 2 days, and no one protected him. And thinking of that, frankly, turns my heart to stone towards the mother. I wish I could feel some shred of compassion for her, but I just can't.
Am I completely off base here?
