http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2010/05/07/mother_accused_of_putting_fece.htmlexcerpt
By Steven Kreytak | Friday, May 7, 2010, 12:07 PM
State District Judge Julie Kocurek today denied a request by Emily Beth McDonald’s lawyers that the young mother be allowed supervised visits with her children while awaiting trial for injury to a child.
McDonald, who was released from jail on on a personal recognizance bond shortly after her June 20009 arrest, is accused of putting feces on her then-3-year-old daughter’s feeding tube last year. She faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Kocurek said she was following the recommendation of Child Protective Services. A CPS supervisor testified at a hearing this morning that she would not feel comfortable supervising visitation for someone charged with causing serious bodily injury to her child.
Kocurek called the allegations against McDonald “very, very serious†and said she would have never signed the personal bond releasing McDonald from jail pending trial. That bond was signed by state District Judge Charlie Baird.
“The recommendation of Child Protective Services is well founded, it is reasonable, and it will stay in place,†Kocurek said.
McDonald, 24, who was in court with more than a dozen friends and family members, cried after Kocurek’s ruling.
Her lawyers had argued that scientific research shows that McDonald’s children — who are now ages 4, 5 and 7 — would suffer long-term psychological harm from being separated from their mother. Two witnesses they called, including a counselor for the child and a forensic psychologist who reviewed their case, concurred.
Prosecutor Jackie Wood objected to any visitiation.
“It’s a bit of a fluke that we are here on a bond heaing in the first place,†Wood said. “A lot of people who try to murder their children actually wait for their trial in jail.“
Wood suggested that even supervised visits would not be sufficient to protect the children from McDonald, who is accused of trying to harm her daughter last year while the girl was in a hospital.
During the hearing, Wood noted that a surveillance video of McDonald rubbing feces on her daughter’s feeding tube last year, the girl was aggressively kicking at her mother.
“This is a situation where murder almost took place,†Wood said.
McDonald’s defense lawyer Bob Phillips responded: “The evidence they had from the very beginning was not any intention to kill… To characterize it in any other way is playing to another audience besides you.“
The girl was admitted to Dell Children’s Medical Center on April 15, 2009, with high fever and “a long history of chronic diarrhea,†according to an arrest affidavit. Blood tests came back positive for bacteria commonly found in feces.
Hospital officials set up a hidden camera in the girl’s room after she continued to have setbacks in her recovery and after they had to replace her intravenous lines several times because of infections or clots in the lines, the affidavit said.
On May 31, hospital staff reviewed the tape and saw McDonald smearing feces on the intravenous line, the affidavit said.
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