I originally published this Dec. 31, 2014 in my discontinued column on Examiner.com.
Shelby Frederick, 21, of Fairfield, California was officially charged in the death of her 2-month-old that passed away earlier this year.
On June 18 Frederick's child was rushed to Northbay Medical Center. Upon arriving to receive attention for difficulty breathing the child screamed in agony before finally expiring. kron4.com published statements by Frederick's boyfriend, John Hortsmann, regarding the infant's final moments:
He was crying out as if he was in shock but when the triage nurse applied pressure on his abdomen he let out such a scream. They rushed him to a room where they poked and fussed over him. An hour later he passed.
According to ktvu.com an autopsy revealed methamphetamine in the infant's system, with the coroner declaring the cause of death to be acute methamphetamine poisoning. Based on this information an investigation into the infant's death was opened in July.
Law enforcement has not commented on why it took nearly six months to effect Frederick's arrest.
Frederick, who is five months pregnant, was taken into police custody on Dec. 30 on charges of assault of a child causing death. She is being held in the Solano County Jail.
If convicted Frederick will face a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison, to life.
To be convicted of assault of a child causing death in California the following criteria must be met:
- The defendant had care or custody of a child who was under the age of 8.
- The defendant did an act that by its nature would directly and probably result in the application of force to the child.
- The defendant did that act willfully.
- The force used was likely to produce great bodily injury.
- When the defendant acted, (he/she) was aware of facts that would lead a reasonable person to realize that (his/her) act by its nature would directly and probably result in great bodily injury to the child.
- When the defendant acted, (he/she) had the present ability to apply force likely to produce great bodily injury to the child;
- The defendant’s act caused the child’s death.
- When the defendant acted, (he/she) was not reasonably disciplining a child.
Will Frederick's defense be that she was disciplining her two-month-old with methamphetamine, and will the defense argue that this was a type of reasonable discipline?
Thank you for reading. Please browse my other posts to read more of my original crime reports that I am only republishing on Steemit.