Thanks for the tip, BB. Now I wonder if DSS staff will be charged for attempted murder. Hmmm, maybe not.
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SPRINGFIELD - A Hampden Superior Court judge has taken under advisement a defense motion to dismiss child abuse charges against Jason D. Strickland.
Arguments on the motion were heard today by Judge Daniel A. Ford. Defense lawyer Greg T. Schubert said that Strickland was the only person seeking to preserve the life of his stepdaughter Haleigh Poutre after she was hospitalized.
That was the time, Schubert said, that the state was seeking to take the child off life support, saying she was in a persistent vegetative state.
Haleigh Poutre, Strickland's stepdaughter, was left hospitalized with a brain injury on Sept. 11, 2005. Haleigh, now 13 years old, is in a Boston rehabilitation hospital. Her case gained national media attention and has triggered a continuing debate in Massachusetts about how the state handles child welfare responsibilities.
Strickland and his wife, Haleigh's adopted mother Holli A. Strickland, both of Westfield, were arrested and charged with assault after the girl was hospitalized.
Holli Strickland died later that month in what West Springfield police said appeared to be a murder-suicide at the hands of her grandmother.
Jason Strickland is charged with assault and battery on a child with substantial bodily injury, assault and battery on a child with bodily injury, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery.
Schubert argued that the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled last year that Jason Strickland has no standing as a "de facto parent" or otherwise. He said that because of that ruling, Jason Strickland is not liable for preventing another person from injuring the child.
Assistant District Attorney Laurel H. Brandt told Ford that Schubert "has asserted argument as if it were fact."
She said that the state Supreme Judicial Court, in ruling that Jason Strickland was not a "de facto parent" was ruling against his contention that he had a loving, nurturing relationship with Haleigh Poutre.
Ford asked Brandt if the state will seek to prove Jason Strickland should have prevented another person from harming Haleigh Poutre.
"That is part of the commonwealth's argument," Brandt said.
She said the burden of proof in the state Supreme Judicial Court proceedings is different than in the Superior Court case.
She said in this case she has the burden of proof to prove Haleigh Poutre was in "care and custody" of Jason Strickland.
Schubert argued that Jason Strickland should not have been expected to know if another person was abusing Haleigh Poutre because state Department of Social Services professionals involved with the family did not find abuse prior to the hospitalization.
Brandt said that it is wrong to say that another person living in the house with Haleigh Poutre should have the same response as professionals who have been "duped by this husband and wife" into believing what they were told, that the child was self-abusive.
Judge mulls dismissing charges in Haleigh Poutre case
8mm
