JOSHUA ISAIAH BOOZER - Infant (2010) - Princeton WV

A circuit court judge provisionally accepted a plea agreement Wednesday
from a mother who was charged with first-degree murder after her infant
son’s death.

Katharine Janelle Boozer, 24, of Princeton was arrested February 2010
after the death of her son, Joshua Isaiah Boozer, at a Roanoke, Va.,
hospital. Boozer was initially charged with child abuse when she brought
her son to Princeton Community Hospital, but she was later indicted on
charges of first-degree murder and death of a child by a parent by child
abuse.

Boozer pleaded guilty Wednesday in Mercer County Circuit Court to child
neglect resulting in death. The charge carries a penalty of three to 15
years imprisonment.

However, Judge Derek Swope did not immediately accept the plea.

“Somebody has to explain to me how we start out with first-degree
murder and death of a child by child abuse and go to child abuse
resulting in death,” Swope said. “I have a right to know, the public has
a right to know. I want to know why we’re going from life imprisonment
and 10 to 40 years to three to 15 years.”

Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ash said the charge of child neglect
resulting in death was one the state could prove beyond a reasonable
doubt. The baby had injuries in the lower torso that may have resulted
from a previous incident that child protective services were
investigating.

Boozer initially told investigators that she was alone with her son
February 2010 when somebody inflicted severe injuries to his head, Ash
said. She later said that a man she had been dating, a patient she met
at her workplace, Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Clinic, was
in the home at that time.

This man has not been charged in the Boozer case, Ash said.

Forensic evidence does not point directly to Boozer or her former
boyfriend, he said, adding later that this man has not been charged in
connection with the infant’s death.

One of Boozer’s attorneys, Thomas Czarnik, said the defense would have
shown at her trial that she maintained a good household for a child.
However, she did have a relationship with a patient at her workplace and
knew that he had a record of violence.

This person also physically abused and threatened her, and threatened
her former husband after being told that they were reconciling, Czarnik
said.

“I knew he had a violent history,” Boozer told Judge Swope after
pleading guilty. “I did know that he had a violent past. He had been
violent toward me and manifested violence toward others.”

Swope ordered the Mercer County Probation Department to conduct a
pre-sentencing investigation. As part of the plea agreement, Boozer
agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Boozer faces an indeterminate sentence, meaning there was no set number
of years for her to serve in prison, Swope said. She could be eligible
for parole in three years or could serve seven and a half years for good
behavior. Without consideration for good behavior, she could serve all
15 years of the sentence.

Swope provisionally accepted Boozer’s plea.
He said he would decide whether to make the plea final during a June 28 hearing.

Boozer remains free on bond.

http://bdtonline.com/local/x300774503/Boozer-pleads-guilty-to-child-neglect-resulting-in-death