Woman sentenced for injury to toddler
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

An El Campo woman who pleaded no contest to injuring her infant son was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication and 120 days in jail by visiting District Court Judge Daniel Sklar during court proceedings Monday at the Wharton County Courthouse.

The defendant, Laura Kay Baker, 22, was also ordered to receive counseling, join a 12-step addiction recovery program, obtain a GED and agree to random drug tests/screening during her probation period.

Following the sentencing, lead Defense Attorney Richard Manske said he was happy with the court's decision.

"There's serious questions about whether or not a crime was committed in this case," he said. "And the prosecution was seeking 20 years in the penitentiary, so I think the results were positive."

Originally charged with first degree injury to a child, Baker pled no contest to a charge of second degree injury to a child with a deadly weapon finding on Jan. 10.

At the heart of the case was determining what happened to the woman's son on Nov. 9, 2006.

The prosecution claimed that Baker shook her son, Jimmy Baker, then 18 months old, so severely and possibly even hitting him against an unknown object that he has suffered permanent brain and eyesight damage.

The defense claimed the injuries took place the previous day when the child had been improperly placed in a car seat and thrown out of the seat.

Manske said his client agreed to the deadly weapon finding, that weapon being her hands, in that she was the one who placed the child in the seat.

The special prosecutor for the case representing Wharton County was Jay Lapham, a Fort Worth-based attorney with the non-profit Shaken Baby Alliance.

Prior to taking a position with the Alliance, Lapham was with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, serving as the supervisor of the crimes against children unit. He was joined in prosecuting the case with Wharton County Assistant DA Ross Kurtz.

In his closing, Manske said his client made poor choices in life, but added she'd never had a felony conviction. He recommended deferred adjudication probation to allow Baker to continue to try and improve her life and said she deserved a chance to put her life in order.

He added prison time for the mother would do nothing to restore her son's health.

In his close, Lapham said the trial wasn't about the defendant efforts but about her son as a victim and his life-long disabilities.

He added he was concerned the defendant was still allowed contact with her youngest child and requested a lengthy sentence.

In addition to being dissatisfied with the decision on probation, the prosecution team was disappointed by Sklar's ruling the 120 days in jail was scheduled to start on Friday to allow the defendant to attend her fatherin law's funeral Thursday.

They argued the defendant shouldn't be given special consideration and the jail term should start immediately.

Wharton County District Attorney Josh McCown said despite the judgment, he would continue to prosecute similar cases.

"In any case like this with serious injury to a child, we are going to continue to seek prison time," he said. "But this was an open plea and the judge has sole discretion in what he determines and we'll respect his decision."