Great-grandma on trial in burning of 2-year-old girl in Oklahoma

[Nut44x4]

Haslet great-grandmother on trial in burning of 2-year-old girl

FORT WORTH -- The burn marks went from the 2-year-old girl’s head to the bottom of her feet.

Multiple first- and second-degree burns were discovered across the girl’s body last summer as she sat on a chair at a relative’s Oklahoma City home.

What caused the burns? A curling iron, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The girl’s great-grandmother, Saundra Patterson, 65, went on trial Tuesday, accused of repeatedly using the iron to burn 10 percent of her great granddaughter’s body at the family’s Haslet home.

Burn marks also were discovered in the girl’s vaginal area, according to opening day testimony by an Oklahoma emergency technician.

Patterson is charged with injury to a child, and if convicted, she faces a maximum of life in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Haslet woman is eligible for probation, according to Tarrant County criminal court records.

Patterson, who had custody of the 2-year-old and her then-5-year-old sister, went to visit relatives in Oklahoma City on July 4, 2008. The girls are now in foster care, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

“Police got an anonymous call about an injured child there in Oklahoma City,” Tarrant County Assistant District Keith Harris said Tuesday. Assistant District Attorney Bill Vassar also is prosecuting the case.

When police arrived at the Oklahoma City home, 82-year-old Ruby Hill told police that there wasn’t an injured child in the home. Hill is the great-great-grandmother of the 2-year-old, according to The Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City.

But Oklahoma City patrol Sgt. Gregory Kennedy testified Tuesday that he searched the house and found the girl in a bedroom.

“I picked her up as best as I could so as not to hurt her. She just had marks all over her,” Kennedy said. “She didn’t say a thing.”’

On Tuesday, Oklahoma emergency crews testified that the sight of the girl’s injuries shocked them Time and time again, defense attorney Tom Zachary questioned witnesses on Tuesday if they knew how the burn marks got on the girl.

Each answered, no.

Prosecutors believe the injuries may have happened on July 1, 2008 while Patterson and her great-granddaughters were at Patterson’s Haslet home.

While the jury was out of the courtroom, Dr. Debra Shropshire , an Oklahoma City pediatrician, testified Tuesday afternoon that the girl had been abused because of the number of burns on her, the location of the burns and the degree of her burns.

The jury of nine women and three men were to continue hear testimony today in Criminal District Court No. 371.

In November, Ruby Hill was charged with child neglect on suspicion that she failed to seek medical attention for the burned toddler.

Hill told Oklahoma City police on July 4, 2008 that she did not want to believe the burns were that serious, according to The Oklahoman.

Hill also said she didn’t get any assistance for the girl because she didn’t want to cause trouble for Patterson, The Oklahoman reported.

Information was unavailable on the status of Hill’s case.

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1699657.html#

If this case is already here, we can merge. I could not find any trace of it through a search, although it does sound familiar.

[MuffyBee]

 

[Sister]

I cannot imagine the pain this child has suffered.
When I accidentially burn myself with the curling iron, just a brief moment on my skin, it is so painful.  What kind of animal would so such a thing?  I think the punishment needs to be exactly what was inflicted.  Every day for the rest of these people's lives.
 
 

[cookie]

I cannot imagine the pain this child has suffered.
When I accidentially burn myself with the curling iron, just a brief moment on my skin, it is so painful.  What kind of animal would so such a thing?  I think the punishment needs to be exactly what was inflicted.  Every day for the rest of these people's lives.
 
 

totally agree Sister!

I had to read this article twice to make sure that I was reading what I thought that I had read.... I am disgusted by this woman...and sick for the pain that this child suffered at her hands..thank goodness the police officer pursued matters and didn't just go away without looking for this baby...

[Sister]

Haslet woman gets probation after being convicted of burning great-granddaughter with curling iron
Posted Friday, Oct. 23, 2009
By NATHANIEL JONES

njones@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days before convicting a 65-year-old Haslet woman Friday of burning her 2-year-old great-granddaughter with a curling iron in July 2008.

Jurors later took less than 10 minutes to sentence Saundra Patterson to five years’ probation.

State District Judge Mollee Westfall added five years of probation to the sentence. Patterson was found guilty of one felony charge of injury to a child.

Patterson faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. One of the terms of her probation is that she cannot have contact with children younger than 17.

Patterson had cared for two great-granddaughters, the 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, in her Haslet home from 2007, when authorities terminated their mother’s parental rights, until July 2008. That’s when the mother called Oklahoma City police after she saw burns on her daughter during a July 4 weekend family gathering at the home of the children’s great-great-grandmother.

Medical personnel testified that the first- and second-degree burns were scattered over 10 percent of the girl’s body, from her head to her feet. Burn marks were even found in her vaginal area, according to testimony.

A patrol officer who found the toddler testified that it was hard for him to pick up the girl without hurting her.

Patterson testified Thursday that the girl burned herself after getting a curling iron from Patterson’s bathroom. She testified that the burns were painful but were nothing a little butter from the refrigerator couldn’t soothe.

Jury asked about lesser charge

The jury of nine women and three men began deliberating at 3:15 p.m. Thursday and worked until about 8:30 p.m. before being taken to a hotel and sequestered for the night, court officials said. They resumed deliberating at 9 a.m. Friday.

At one point, they sent the judge a note asking whether they could consider a lesser charge. The note read: "Some jurors want to know if a lesser charge can be considered. Not me, because I’m smart enough to know better."

Westfall said no, that they could consider only guilt or innocence on the charge of injury to a child.

After the guilty verdict was returned, Patterson took the stand Friday afternoon for the punishment phase of her trial.

"I didn’t hurt my great-granddaughter," she said. "It’s scary. I could go to jail for something she did to herself."

Patterson’s attorney, Tom Zachary, said he believed that the sentence was a compromise among jurors.

"Something horrific happened to this little girl, and I believe they felt someone had to be accountable for those burns," Zachary said. "But at the same time, they didn’t have any evidence that proved she did it."

Prosecutor Bill Vassar said he accepted the jury’s decision.

"It doesn’t matter it took them long to reach their decision," Vassar said. "What matters more is that they reached the right decision."

Patterson remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Friday night, where she has been held since her arrest Oct. 8. She is scheduled to be released Monday, court officials said.

The two sisters are in foster care in Oklahoma City, along with a 9-month-old half-brother whom Oklahoma child-welfare officials removed from their mother’s custody.

[burkieandemme]

Five years probation?!?

The two year old did this to herself?!? 

Yeah...No!  Most children might accidentally burn themselves once and that is it.  They would not repeatedly burn themselves, from head to toe and including their vaginal area! 

[cookie]

probation??!!!

why do women keep breeding children into this world that they don't take care of or want? relatives who don't want them either are left to take care of them and they abuse them... or neglect them....this makes me sick! give up these kids and let them be in a happy or at least a safe home...let them go to the state and to a safe foster home.....

[MuffyBee]

This is terrible.  No justice in it for the little girl.  Burns are so very, very painful.   

[Sister]

This is so beyond disgusting.  I get little burns and know how much they hurt.
Why, why do adults take out their anger, frustrations, or whatever bs on defenseles children?  Sadly, the answer is because they can.  Not only can they, they don't get punished.