Posted on 12/13/2005 7:55:42 AM PST by pabianice
WESTFIELD, MA -- Allison Avrett's photos show her daughter Haleigh as a smiling little girl with brown bangs hanging over her squinting eyes.
Those pictures were taken before Mrs. Avrett gave up Haleigh for adoption five years ago, and long before the purported beating that landed the 11-year-old in a hospital attached to the ventilator and feeding tube.
Now, with Haleigh's doctors saying she will never recover from her vegetative state, the child is at the center of a life-and-death legal struggle.
The state Department of Social Services, which has had custody of Haleigh since she was hospitalized Sept. 11, wants to remove her from life support.
Her stepfather, Jason Strickland, who is charged in her beating and could be tried for murder if she dies, wants to keep the girl alive. He is free on bail while awaiting trial.
A juvenile court judge has ruled that Haleigh should be allowed to die. Mr. Strickland has appealed, and the state's highest court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case today.
Mrs. Avrett, who gave up her parental rights when she let her sister adopt Haleigh in 2000, says her daughter should not suffer anymore.
"They say the most she might ever do is open her eyes," said Mrs. Avrett, a 29-year-old stay-at-home mom with two other children. "I don't want her to sit there longer than she needs to."
Police say the injuries that left Haleigh with severe brain-stem injuries came at the hands of Mr. Strickland and his wife, Holli, Mrs. Avrett's sister.
Within two weeks after the couple pleaded not guilty to the beating. Mrs. Strickland was fatally shot in her grandmother's West Springfield apartment. The body of her 71-year-old grandmother, Constance Young, was beside her. The suspected double suicide or murder-suicide is under investigation (Ill bet -- Ed.)
In a legal brief filed ahead of today's hearing, Mr. Strickland, 31, asks to be declared Haleigh's de facto parent. His attorney, John Egan, insists that his client is not motivated by the chance he could be charged with murder if the girl dies.
"We should be coming down on the side of life as opposed to death," he said.
In 1999, Mrs. Avrett broke up with her boyfriend and married another man. A year later -- after what Mrs. Avrett said had been several years of strong recommendation by the social services department -- she agreed to let her older sister formally adopt Haleigh.
But Mrs. Avrett said things started to change after her sister married Mr. Strickland.
"When Jason came into the picture, we started seeing less of Haleigh," she said.
According to court documents filed by Mr. Strickland's attorney, Haleigh had been hospitalized during the past three years for self-inflicted injuries. The girl's reported tendency to hurt herself is a cornerstone of Mr. Strickland's defense.
But Alicia Weiss, a baby sitter for Haleigh, testified at a hearing in Mr. Strickland's criminal case that she saw Mrs. Strickland kick the girl down the stairs repeatedly and hit her with a baseball bat. She said she also saw Mr. Strickland hit the girl twice with an open hand and once with a plastic stick.
Although Mr. Strickland has not been accused of dealing any particular blows to the child, court documents accuse him of watching as his wife abused Haleigh.
Mrs. Avrett's hope is that the Supreme Judicial Court will uphold the decision to let Haleigh die and that the state will allow her to plan her daughter's funeral.
"I've had guilt for years over giving her up for adoption," Mrs. Avrett said.
This guy is filth. There are people lining up to do him, hoping he ends up in prison.
Maybe Mike Farrell will show up to protest, and Joan Baez will sing a song?
"They say the most she might ever do is open her eyes," said Mrs. Avrett, a 29-year-old stay-at-home mom with two other children. "I don't want her to sit there longer than she needs to."
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That's okay, "Mom"...the same people who wanted to keep Tookie Williams alive will rally to your cause. |
"Her stepfather, Jason Strickland, who is charged in her beating and could be tried for murder if she dies, wants to keep the girl alive. He is free on bail while awaiting trial. "
And therein lies the problem. Typical Mass libnuts and apparently NO OUTRAGE that this scumbag is out freely walking the streets, free to beat up another helpless child. GOOD GOD Mass-ites, wake UP!
What a horrible story...prayers for Haleigh.
What scum.
(1) Although the press will try to spin this as Schiavo redux, the two cases are quite different. Terri Schiavo did not need life support machines to survive, all she needed was a very obscure, high-level medical treatment called "food."
Haleigh Avrett cannot live without life support machines. If she is disconnected she will die a natural death.
(2) The only true resemblance between the two cases is that each features an evil individual who seeks to profit from the status of each helpless person.
Michael Schiavo wanted to starve Terri Schiavo to death in order to collect his money and wed his adulterous lover.
Jason Strickland wants to use machines to keep Haleigh Avrett clinically alive in order to avoid being charged in her murder.
Both individuals claim that they are the rightful guardian/caregiver over a helpless person whose interests run directly counter to his.
(3) Everyone from the birth mother to the stepmother to the babysitter failed this little girl. The story from start to finish is a study in the banality of evil.
(At least that's the charitable explanation for you supporting this scumbag's attempt to avoid a murder charge)
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I was trying to point out that to some people, this little girl's life means nothing, whereas the same people will try to spare the life of a mass murderer. |
Or something like that. I'm not the most articulate person on the planet.
The way I read this story, the late Mrs. Strickland was somewhat of a bully, the accused accomplice (husband) a coward and the grandmother an aggrieved avenger; there are no winners here.
agreed!!!! I could not have said it better
He cites the differing opinions of two doctors who disagree on whether the girl's feeding tube should be removed. Both doctors say her ventilator should be shut off. If she remains attached to the feeding tube only, she could live for several months, one of the doctors said. Without the tube, death would come much quicker."There's a 50-50 split in the medical opinion, and we ought to -- at a minimum -- be moving more cautiously on this," Egan said
So I don't think it's 100% clear yet whether she is capable of living on a feeding tube or if she requires a ventilator.
Your remark that this is another example of somebody profiting from the helpless person's status is very well taken, though!
I wrote in the belief that the consensus medical opinion on Haleigh was that without a ventilator she would only live a few more weeks or months.
Understand. Just that IMO, there is a huge difference between a feeding tube and a ventilator (I am trying to stay very consistent with my statements surrounding the Schiavo case). If a ventilator was involved, the case would be a lot more open-and-shut for pulling the plug, particularly considering the girl does not apparently have any competent private guardian (bio-mother gave her up -- therefore no rights, adoptive mother dead, the man in the case is only a step-dad and, therefore, has no legal standing, apparently no grandparents or siblings of the adoptive mother to take charge).
A tough case I would think...
"I've had guilt for years over giving her up for adoption," Mrs. Avrett said.
Translation: "If she dies, maybe my guilt will be erased along with her. I get a do-over."
God Almighty. To top it off, that poor girl's best chance at life is the man who put her in this sad state.
God Almighty. To top it off, that poor girl's best chance at life is the MONSTER who put her in this sad state.
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