Mom on trial accused of killing 5-year-old with salt

[mick silver]

Mom on trial accused of killing 5-year-old with salthttp://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/image001-png_162613.png (http://www.ap.org/) By JIM FITZGERALD 1 hour ago




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This undated photo provided by the Westchester County District Attorney’s office shows Lacey Spears, …





WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — A confounding and heartbreaking murder case alleging that a mother purposely poisoned her 5-year-old son with salt and documented his decline on social media began Monday in the New York suburbs.



Lacey Spears, 27, of Scottsville, Kentucky, who presented herself online as a supremely devoted mother, is charged with depraved murder and manslaughter in the death a year ago of Garnett-Paul Spears.
"This mother was intentionally feeding her child salt at toxic levels," prosecutor Doreen Lloyd said at Spears' arraignment.
The boy's sodium levels rose to a dangerous point with no medical explanation, prosecutors said, leading to a swollen brain, seizures and death. They believe his single mother, who was sharing his hospital room at Westchester Medical Center, administered salt through a feeding tube into Garnett's stomach.
All the while, she was keeping followers up to date with 28 online postings in the last 11 days of his life, noting his death with, "Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m." She had tens of thousands of entries over Garnett's lifetime, many about his doctor and hospital visits.
"My Sweet Angel Is In The Hospital For The 23rd Time," Spears tweeted on Nov. 9, 2009, adding a sad-faced emoticon. "Please Pray He Gets To Come Home Soon."
Jury selection began Monday with a pool of 90 potential jurors on hand at the courthouse. Several told the judge they had seen some of the extensive news coverage of the case.
In rulings delivered last week, Lacey Spears' messages on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace were determined relevant and are likely to be introduced as evidence. Some of the posted photos depict Garnett's declining health, said acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary.
Neary also found that prosecutors can tell jurors about Internet research Spears did on her iPhone into the dangers of sodium in children and the properties of iodized salt.
In addition, the judge said Garnett's hospital records from Alabama, Florida and New York are relevant and "inextricably interwoven into the fabric of this case. They provide a history of the child's medical issues and treatment leading up to his death. They illustrate the defendant's role as custodian and care giver."
Prosecutors believe Spears often lied to doctors about Garnett's health, for example claiming he had celiac disease when he didn't.
Spears' lawyers have not publicly detailed a defense strategy and did not return calls seeking comment. Attorney Stephen Riebling said in July that the defense would focus "on the relevant facts, not fiction."
Spears, originally from Decatur, Alabama, was living in Chestnut Ridge, New York, at the time of Garnett's death. She moved to Kentucky before her arrest in June and has been jailed since then. A man who says he is Garnett's father lives in Alabama.
Other evidence in the case includes bags used to feed Garnett which prosecutors say have "extraordinary" concentrations of sodium. The prosecution says Spears tried to cover up by asking a friend to take a feeding bag, "get rid of it and don't tell anybody."
The trial apparently will not include any reference to Munchausen by proxy, a disorder in which caretakers purposely but secretly harm children and then enjoy the attention and sympathy they receive. Some experts regard it as a mental illness and a defense to such crimes, while others consider it a motive. Several believe Spears' case fits the syndrome.
Spears' lawyers asked the judge to prohibit any mention of Munchausen and prosecutors said they had no plans to bring it up.
The murder charge alleges Garnett was killed "under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life" rather than with intent. It carries the same maximum sentence as intentional murder, however — 25 years to life. The manslaughter count alleges Spears killed her son "while intending to cause serious physical injury."


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[Ares]

I would be curious if it wasn't a genetic abnormality. I remember watching a forensic files show, where a woman was charged with giving her child Antifreeze but after almost a decade behind bars if I remember correctly, the kid suffered a genetic abnormality and the techs didn't look at the data close enough to discern the difference.

[Glass]

I was looking for the word and there is was Munchausens (by proxy). They have recently resurrected this condition in the UK as well. Might apply in this case? OR might not. Needs more investigation to make sure the kid wasn't carrying a genetic problem.

[madfranks]

What do you guys mean a genetic problem? Didn't you read this part:


They believe his single mother... administered salt through a feeding tube into Garnett's stomach.

The mother is truly a depraved and evil soul.

[Ares]

What do you guys mean a genetic problem? Didn't you read this part:



The mother is truly a depraved and evil soul.

Well I wouldn't be so quick to judge, not after reading this case and what this mother went through because the state jumped to conclusions.

The Patricia Stallings case comes to mind:


he jury convicted Patricia Stallings of first-degree murder and sentenced her to spend the rest of her life in prison. Patricia was devastated by the verdict.

Who Says All Prosecuting Attorneys have no heart?

Six months after the Stallings trial, Prosecutor McElroy set a groundbreaking precedent when he wrote a motion to Judge Kramer asking for a new trial for Patricia; where he acknowledged that Rathbone's defense of Stallings was woefully inadequate. Judge Kramer stated, "This is the first time I have ever known this to happen. It's unheard of for a prosecutor to acknowledge ineffective counsel."

Based on McElroy's motion Judge Kramer decided to grant Stallings a new trial.

Doubts about whether Stallings had actually poisoned her son began to show as early as April of 1990, a full nine months before Patricia's original trial.

As previously stated, after the birth of Patricia's second son, David, Jr., press reports grew disturbing to McElroy. The media introduced the fact that the second child suffered from a rare genetic metabolic disease called Methylmalonic Acidemia, commonly referred to in the medical field as (MMA.) There was a one in four chance that Ryan had suffered from the same rare genetic disorder. "I had heard enough to be concerned," McElroy later stated.

Doctor Christopher Long, the head of the St. Louis University's toxicology laboratory, one of the testing facilities that had previously found ethylene glycol in Ryan's blood, miraculously agreed to turn over a tiny bit of Ryan's blood serum to Dr. James Shoemaker, who had just set up a genetic disorder testing laboratory at the same University.

Shoemaker received approximately one tenth of a teaspoon of Ryan's blood serum. Using a test designed to detect MMA in urine, Shoemaker discovered on April 21, 1990 that Ryan Stallings actually suffered from MMA. Shoemaker also discovered a trace of ethylene glycol in the baby's blood, but he believed that it was not highly concentrated enough to have killed the little boy. This groundbreaking discovery went no further because of the following.

Shoemaker reported his findings to his superiors and held a meeting with some of the university's senior staff. Most agreed that Ryan likely had MMA, but could not agree on whether or not Ryan had died of the disease. The senior staff members believed that some of the ethylene glycol that had been in the child's blood could have dissipated with time and storage. Most of the senior staff members still came to the conclusion that Ryan had been poisoned. Since Shoemaker was not a senior staff member, his findings weren't considered credible and therefore the evidence he had discovered couldn't be used to help Patricia prove her innocence.

Shortly before Patricia's trial, the prosecutor's office called Shoemaker. This was the first time that Shoemaker reported his findings to McElroy, who then reported the same findings to Patricia's Attorney. Rathbone says that had he known that Shoemaker had only found a trace of ethylene glycol in Ryan's blood that he would have pursued it. Rathbone never contacted Shoemaker because he said, "that he didn't need another witness to say that Ryan had probably been poisoned."

The media continued to report on the Stallings' case and "Unsolved Mysteries" aired her story. This story alone proved helpful to ending Patricia's long ordeal.

Dr. William S. Sly, professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at St. Louis University, happened to watch the program and instantly realized that no other tests had been performed on Ryan's blood. He ordered additional testing on the blood sample, which Dr. Shoemaker performed. The results stunned everyone there and Doctor Sly proceeded to write a letter to another university official. This official in turn relayed the letter to McElroy.

In his letter Dr. Sly reached three important conclusions:

1.) They confirmed the absence of ethylene glycol in blood tests performed before Ryan Stallings' untimely death.
2.) They confirmed abnormal elevations of organic acids in Ryan's blood serum, which made the diagnosis of MMA virtually certain.
3.) Dr. Sly confirmed that one of the compounds in Ryan's blood, which are elevated by MMA could be confused with ethylene glycol when the older gas chromatographic testing techniques were used.

Full case can be found here: http://www.justicedenied.org/patriciastallings.htm

Summary, She was accused of putting antifreeze in her baby's bottle and poisoning him. All the evidence eluded to it. But the baby suffered a genetic abnormality and come to find out the babies metabolism lacked the ability to break down certain metabolic waste.

To rule out genetic abnormalities I would first look to any disease that result in increase salt concentration in the blood, if so look for those genetic markers so that the state doesn't wrongly convict someone. If there isn't a disease and the salt has the same makeup as table salt and not a metabolic byproduct then she should fry.

[Ares]

Kidney disease results in high concentration of salt in the blood. Did the infant suffer from a kidney disease? Were both kidney's functioning? That's where I would look first anyway.

[mick silver]

How much salt is toxic to humans?

[Ares]

How much salt is toxic to humans?

Depends on hydration level, kidney functions, most people consume 2-3 grams of salt a day with no ill affect. But too much salt will kill you, it's the reason you never want to consume large amounts of sea water. You'll die as the salt will dehydrate you as the kidneys try to remove it from the blood.

[Glass]

What do you guys mean a genetic problem? Didn't you read this part:



The mother is truly a depraved and evil soul.

Believing and knowing are different. At this point there is no evidence, only supposition, suspicions and maybe some unfortunate coincidences.