Challenge Coming In Shaken

Challenge coming in shaken-baby case By Tracy M. Neal Staff Writer [email protected] Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 URL: http://www.nwanews.com/story/bcdr/18630 BENTONVILLE — Attorneys for a baby sitter accused of causing injuries that resulted in a 4-month-old’s death as a result of shaken baby syndrome will challenge whether the case is a capital case. Samantha Anne Mitchell, 30, of Rogers, appeared in court Monday for her initial court appearance after her arrest Saturday on a capital murder charge. Prosecutors have not filed a formal charge against Mitchell. Chief Deputy Prosecuting Van Stone expects charges to be filed this week against Mitchell. If convicted of the charge, Mitchell could be sentenced to the death penalty or life in prison without the benefit of parole. Stone said it is too early in the investigation to make a decision as to whether to seek the death penalty in the case. "We want to learn more about Mrs. Mitchell, her past and the circumstance of this crime before we make this call," Stone said. "The state can only seek the death penalty in limited circumstances called aggravating circumstances. The state must investigate those circumstances as any other elements of the crime." Police arrested Mitchell, 30, last Wednesday for battery in the first degree, a class B felony. Her bond was set at $50,000, but Rogers detectives arrested her Saturday at the jail on a charge of capital murder, a class Y felony. A bond was not set Monday on the capital murder charge. Rogers attorney Kristin Pawlik, who stood in for Mitchell’s attorney, Drew Miller, asked the court to waive Monday’s hearing. Pawlik asked Circuit Judge David Clinger to schedule a probable cause hearing in the case because defense attorneys will be challenging the fact that Mitchell’s case is a capital murder case. A capital murder provision that Mitchell could be charged with states that under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, a person knowingly causes the death of a person 14 years of age or younger at the time the murder was committed, provided that the defendant was 18 years of age or older at the time the murder was committed. Clinger scheduled the probable cause hearing for 9 a.m. April 7. Police began investigating the incident March 15 after being alerted by doctors in the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. The 4-month-old infant — Dominick Sanders — was taken to the hospital by his mother. She took him after he began having seizures.

Doctors determined that the seizures were caused by bleeding and swelling of the brain, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The child was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. According to a probable cause affidavit in the case, the baby was on life support at Children’s Hospital and was dependent on a respirator and medication to control his blood pressure and heart rate. He died of his injuries at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Doctors from Children’s Hospital told police the infant’s injuries were consistent with being violently shaken, according to the affidavit. According to the Web site for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, shaken baby syndrome is a severe form of head injury that occurs when a baby is shaken forcibly enough to cause the baby's brain to bounce against the skull. The shaking may cause bruising, swelling and bleeding of the brain, which may lead to permanent, severe brain damage or death. Symptoms include changes in behavior, irritability, lethargy, loss of consciousness, pale or bluish skin, vomiting and convulsions. Although there usually are no outward physical signs of trauma, there may be broken, injured or dislocated bones and injuries to the neck and spine. Reggie Sanders, the boy’s father, told an investigator that Mitchell had been baby-sitting his son for seven days, the affidavit states. Sanders dropped his son off at the sitter’s at 7:45 a.m. March 15, and his wife picked the boy up at 5:15 p.m. Sanders said his wife called him to report she thought something was wrong with their son and asked her husband to come home, the affidavit states. The mother noticed the baby was acting lethargic when she picked him up. According to the affidavit, with the use of a doll, Mitchell told a detective she held the child face down over her right arm, which is in a cast, while she used her left hand and foot to try opening a swing to set Dominick in. Mitchell said she was frustrated by not being able to open the swing and had to set the child down two or three times, the affidavit states. During the demonstration of how it happened, the motion the doll went through during the demonstration caused its head to rock back and forth, according to the affidavit. Mitchell denied violently shaking the infant, the affidavit states.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital told authorities that the onset of symptoms was consistent with the injury happening before the baby’s mother arrived to take him home. Also during Monday’s hearing, Pawlik told the judge Mitchell was not allowed to shower or bathe before her court appearance. Mitchell told Clinger she was not allowed to shower before coming to court. Her arm was wrapped Friday, and she was allowed to shower, but her 6 a.m. Monday request was ignored, Mitchell said. Last week, Clinger heard complaints that inmates were not allowed to shave. "I don’t know what’s going on out there," Clinger said. "They are entitled to bath." Clinger asked Stone to check into Mitchell’s complaint.