Marketplace
![[SeMissourian.com]](http://www.semissourian.com/images/nameplate.gif)
|
|
Fair ~ River stage: 35.4 Falling Sunday, November 8, 2009 |
RSS
 Print
 Email link
 Respond to editor
 Read comments (10)
 Share link
Poplar Bluff woman pleads guilty to abusing infant sonThursday, October 2, 2008POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to abusing her infant son who suffered injuries doctors describe as being consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Heather M. Lane, 23, of Poplar Bluff pleaded guilty to felony abuse of a child before Presiding Circuit Judge Mark Richardson, according to Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Barbour. In exchange for Lane's plea, Barbour said, he agreed to cap the sentence at 10 years on the felony and "the state will stand silent" as to punishment. "We won't stand silent as to the facts -- as to the ramifications, the prognosis and facts surrounding the case," Barbour said. "The punishment, I'll rely on my judge for that." After accepting Lane's plea, Richardson ordered a sentencing assessment report be completed by Probation and Parole. According to the medical records, Barbour said, "this was not an isolated instance" of abuse." Cardinal Glennon medical personnel reported Lane's then 6-month-old son, Tyler Jacob James Birdsong, had "a skull fracture, brain damage in all four quadrants and retinal damage, all consistent and commonly seen from abuse of a shaken baby," Butler County Investigator James Akers said in his probable cause affidavit on file with the court. "Medical images show multiple stages of healing." Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
|
More stories
Enter your email address to subscribe to our mailing lists:
|
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
Google
Oh my gosh!! These poor kids need to be out of that home. You don't shake a baby because the baby don't eat. How awful!! I feel sorry for these kids.
I have four young children very close in age and I understand how it feels to be overwhelmed...but never to the point of injuring my children!! This woman should NEVER be able to have children again or be around her own children ever again!! There is NO EXCUSE for child abuse. I hope she gets plenty of jail time but I am sure that she won't...10 years is NOT even enough!
Anyone want to place bets on how severe the punishment would have been if a guy had been the defendant instead of a woman? It would have been at least double that sentence!
"My judge"? That's a bit thick coming from a prosecutor.
Jail time isn't the answer, not really. That lady isn't going to learn anything from ten years behind bars. What she needs is a lot of counseling help, stuff like that. But no more kids for her, not ever!
Jail time isn't used to rehab offenders. It's used as a means for the snobbish and the elite to be able to feel better about their lives by depriving people they don't like of freedom.
She should be punished, but the only thing she's going to learn in prison is how to become a criminal from other criminals.
And yes, if it was a man, he would get a worse sentence, AND people would be crying because he didn't get the death penalty.
If she owned 150 cats and was abusing them, they would be taken away, assuring society that she would never own another one. Sheeesh, go figure!
Jail time isn't the answer, not really. That lady isn't going to learn anything from ten years behind bars
-- Posted by DonT15 on Wed, Oct 1, 2008, 7:39 pm CDT
Apparently you've never been in jail. Rehabilitation is needed for individuals who feel compelled to commit their crime even after incarceration. She's just a horrible mother and will probably never see her child again. I see your point and respect it, I just feel that rehab is needed for people that almost have an urge to commit their crimes, and punishment is needed for those that make mistakes as she has (yes, I realize saying she made a mistake is the understatement of the century but I hope you get point)
I do think if she were a man the penalty would be more harsh. In my opinion, she should have her children taken away from her and be sterilized to prevent her from ever having more. I think this should be done to all people who abuse their children, if they confess or there is absolute proof that they did it. Also, if she assaulted a grown person and injured them as badly as she did her own child, she would go to jail...so.....
"Medical images show multiple stages of healing."
How long had the child been abused, what warning signs should others have seen, and how could this have been prevented?
There are a variety of quality parent and caregiver education programs offered in the community. Many are free. A lot of these programs help parents work through challenges and frustrations so that child abuse and neglect can be averted. No one is a perfect parent and anyone who cares for children can benefit from these community programs. For a comprehensive monthly calendar, go to:
http://www.communitycaringcouncil.org/calendars/parenting.pdf