
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994                   TAG: 9408110074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MOTHER GUILTY OF NEGLECT

ROCKY MOUNT - On Halloween night last year, a 9-month-old girl was brought to Franklin Memorial Hospital with an arm that was limp and dangling.

X-rays showed the infant's forearm was fractured. Additional X-rays detected a healed break in the girl's other forearm and a shoulder fracture that was in the process of healing.

The girl's condition sent up red flags to doctors and social workers. She was placed in a foster home.

Wednesday, Franklin County Circuit Judge W.N. Alexander II found the 17-year-old mother of the child, Alice Pagans Barrett, guilty of felony neglect.

Barrett, who was tried as an adult, pleaded not guilty at her trial earlier this year.

Alexander had delayed his decision until Wednesday to review the findings in a similar case.

A presentence report for Barrett is scheduled for Sept.21.

The infant's father, Clyde Eugene Barrett, also faces neglect charges. Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood has argued his case against Clyde Barrett, and defense arguments will be heard Aug.30, he said.

In court testimony, Alice Barrett said her daughter fractured her arm when she fell off a bed sometime around Halloween.

But doctors testified at the trial that at least two of the child's injuries occurred at different times. The child also had an impact bruise on her head, Hapgood said.

The infant, born almost two months prematurely, was examined for possible bone diseases, and all tests were negative.

Abuse charges were not sought against Alice Barrett because of the nature of the evidence, Hapgood said.

Barrett's attorney, Eric Ferguson, did not dispute the severity of the child's injuries but argued that the mother should not be found guilty of neglect, because Franklin County Health Department employees made routine visits to the Barretts' home in the Callaway area several times before Oct. 31 and filed no reports describing an injury to the infant.

Hapgood said Health Department records helped prove that the child's injuries happened over a period of time.

The infant was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital on Halloween night by a family friend.

by CNB