WARREN - A judge Thursday denied an early judicial release for a Warren woman who has served one of three years of a prison term for what an expert described as deliberately burning a neighbor's child.
Common Pleas Judge John M. Stuard told Amanda Hall that any leniency was incorporated in his original sentence of three years, since the sentence could have been up to eight years. The judge said he provided for a hearing since the defendant was told that at sentencing.
Stuard scheduled a hearing in his court, where it was pointed out that Hall had completed a GED and parenting classes while in prison.
Hall, who was brought back from her Marysville prison cell for the hearing, told the judge that the year behind bars has seemed like a lifetime and she wished to be with her own children.
Assistant county prosecutor LuWayne Annos pointed out that while Hall was sorry for the severity of the injuries and that the injuries occurred at her home, she had not taken responsibility for the severe burns.
After her arrest, Hall - a mother of four - told Currington in a video statement that on Oct. 14, 2010, she had given Teiarra Houseman, 1, a bath and briefly left the bathroom, leaving her 12-year-old daughter to watch the child after the bath water was drained from the tub.
The daughter also left the bathroom, and both said they heard screams and then returned to pull Teiarra from the tub of hot water, where she was apparently washing her doll.
Hall's daughter backed up the story given by her mother even though Barber brought out the fact in cross-examination that within a day or two after the incident, the daughter blamed her mother, saying she was out to punish the child for continuously crying.
Initially the daughter told Currington she watched through a hole in the bathroom wall as her mother deliberately scalded the girl, who lived across the street on Northfield Avenue N.W.
Currington told Stuard Thursday that he also opposed parole as did Darleen Shope of Children Services.
''She was the caretaker in charge of that child and forceably grabbed the child's left arm. We have concern for other children. This child was in extreme pain,'' Shope said.
Now age 3, Teiarra must wait at least another year before playing outside in the sun or snow since the left arm and hand is still healing from the second-degree burns.
Annos also read a letter written by Belinda Houseman, the victim's mother who also attended the hearing.
''I feel Amanda should not get out any earlier than her sentence of three years. I feel Teiarra should get some justice. As a child, she has to live with knowing she got burnt for no reason,'' the letter read.
An Akron physician serving as a child abuse expert told Stuard, who heard the case in place of a jury, that it only took seconds to burn the child's skin in the water measured at 157 degrees. The doctor showed photos of a distinct line on the girl's forearm separating the burned from the unburned skin, discounting any accidental spill or splash on the part of the victim.