"Toddler Jane Doe" JAMES - 4 yo - Charlotte (SW of Lansing) MI

Charlotte MI ---- Eaton County prosecutors are pursuing charges against a
Lansing couple accused of abusing a 4-year-old girl who has been
hospitalized with severe injuries.
The Eaton County prosecuting attorney's office is accusing Monique
James, 32, and her husband, Chauncey James, 35, of abusing the girl,
including beating her with a looped belt."My understanding is that the defendants were in the
process of adopting the victim," said Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney
Jeffrey Sauter, who added that the girl suffered "extensive and severe"
injuries and remains hospitalized since authorities discovered the abuse
last month.He
declined to elaborate on the nature of her injuries.Monique
James faces two felony charges of child abuse in the first and third
degree and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.Chauncey James is charged with a misdemeanor count of
child abuse in the fourth degree. He faces up to a year in jail if
convicted.Sauter
said the abuse started shortly after the girl started living with the
couple and occurred between Jan. 11 and May 3.Sauter declined to comment further about specifics of
the case."I have
two duties under the law," he said. "One is to protect children; the
other is to ensure the defendant has a fair trial. I have to limit my
comments about a case until it's presented in court."Michigan Department of Human Services officials would
not comment on the case, citing child protection law.Court officials said neither defendant had an
attorney of record with the court.Monique and Chauncey James were arraigned on May 25,
and both are free on bond, Eaton County District Court officials said.A preliminary hearing
for Monique James is scheduled for June 10 in Eaton County District
Court before Judge Harvey Hoffman, according to prosecutors. A trial for
Chauncey James could take place in August.

The Lansing foster mom accused of child abuse is headed to trial.
Monique James, 32, and her husband are accused of abusing a four-year-old girl they were in the process of adopting.
She is charged with first degree and third degree child abuse. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Her husband, Chauncey James, is charged with misdemeanor child abuse.
He could spend a year in jail if convicted. His hearing is set for August.
Eaton County prosecutors say the four-year-old girl remains hospitalized with severe brain injuries.
She was discovered by authorities last month.
Police say James admitted that shebecame angry and pushed the girl so hard that she flew into the air and
hit the steps leading from their garage into their home.
Local doctors say the girl also had whip marks on her body, some of which they believe were months old.

Opening arguments are underway in a trial for a 32-year-old Lansing woman accused of abusing a 4-year-old girl she and her husband were planning to adopt.Monique James is charged with first-degree child abuse and third-degree child abuse. She faces up to 15 years in prison.Her husband, Chauncey James, 35, was charged with a misdemeanor child abuse charge. The status of his case was not immediately available.Prosecutors said the abuse began shortly after the girl started living with the couple, and occurred between January and May of this year.The girl was hospitalized May 3, after James told a detective that she pushed the girl and her head struck steps leading from the garage to the house. In addition to severe head injuries, doctors found numerous bruises, "grip marks" on an arm, and evidence the girl had been whipped with a "loop-like whip instrument," according to testimony at a preliminary hearing earlier this year.

The 4-year-old girl arrived at Sparrow Hospital May 3 nearly comatose.
The severe brain injuries she suffered, a doctor testified Tuesday in the trial of the girl's former foster mother, had left her with symptoms that were "the last signs before someone becomes brain dead."The girl survived, but doctors found more than two dozen bruises - some that appeared to be marks from being whipped with a belt - all over her body.Monique James, 32, who along with her husband was in the process of adopting the girl, initially told paramedics and doctors that the girl likely had fallen from a bathroom stool while washing her hands and hit her head, according to testimony Tuesday in Eaton County Circuit Court.Later that same day, during an interrogation by Lansing police Detective Elizabeth Reust, James repeated that claim. But after further questioning, James told Reust that she pushed the girl in the garage of their south Lansing home, and the girl struck her head on some wood stepsThe girl, James said, had dropped some clothes on the garage floor they were bringing up from the basement."I pushed her because I was upset," a crying James said in an audio recording of the interview, which was played Tuesday in court. "Apparently, I shoved her too hard, because she fell ... I didn't mean to push her down."James is charged with first-degree and third-degree child abuse and faces up to 15 years in prison. Her husband, Chauncey, 35, pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge involving the girl. The Lansing State Journal does not name alleged victims of child abuse.The girl along with her 7-year-old sister now are living with another foster parent. They were removed from the home on May 3. They had lived with the James' since being placed there in January by Lutheran Adoption Service.James' attorney, Vince Green, said during opening statements Monday that James acted out of frustration and that the shove was not intentional.He told jurors that they may not agree with the way James and her husband disciplined their children, but that's all they were doing when they used a belt to spank them.
On Tuesday, the girl's sister and a former foster brother, 6, described how she was often the subject of punishment in the James' home.
James was often upset because the girl was disobedient and continuously wet herself, according to testimony.Punishment included being pushed down "lots of times," the foster brother said in a video-recorded interview played in court, as well as numerous "whuppings" with a belt. Judge Calvin Osterhaven allowed the video to be played after the boy claimed he couldn't recall telling a detective that information in May. The boy also admitted that an aunt had told him what to say during his testimony, according to prosecutors.The children also testified they were spanked with a belt, but not nearly as often.Also according to testimony, the 4-year-old girl was made to be in stress positions described as "the motorcycle" and "the cockroach" when she was disobedient, was forced to stand while eating, and was not allowed to sleep in her bed.The "cockroach" position was described as lying on one's back with one's arms and legs extended.The 4-year-old girl spent a month in Sparrow Hospital recovering. She still has some "belt marks" and vision problems, according to her current foster mother.

A jury late Wednesday night found Monique James guilty of abusing her 4-year-old foster daughter and nearly killing her.
James, 32, of Lansing, was found guilty of first-degree child abuse and third-degree child abuse. She faces up to 15 years in prison at a Nov. 18 sentence hearing.Testimony in the 32-year-old Lansing woman's trial, which began Monday in Eaton County Circuit Court, concluded Wednesday with James herself taking the stand. Jurors began deliberations late Wednesday afternoon. A verdict was announced after 9 p.m.On May 3, the 4-year-old girl, who now is living in another foster home, was rushed to Sparrow Hospital with severe head injuries that doctors and police said were not consistent with James' description of how they occurred.In her testimony Wednesday, James said that on the morning of May 3 she pushed the girl, in a fit of frustration, into some wood steps that lead from her home's garage into the kitchen.She also described how, soon after the incident in the garage, she heard the 4-year-old fall from a bathroom stool while apparently washing her hands."To this day I don't know what happened," James said of the girl's serious head injuries.But Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Morton said in closing arguments that James minimized what actually happened.Morton said the abuse over the course of several months was intentional and systematic.The injuries, Morton suggested - bruises "from head to toe," whip marks, grabbing marks, as well as the head injuries that left the girl near comatose - tell more of the story."What happened to this 4-year-old child did not happen in that garage with a simple push," Morton told jurors. "There's a lot of holes in (James') story of what happened on that day."James' attorney, Vince Green, said prosecutors never presented what they believe happened.He added that the girl could have fallen from the stool and struck her head on the sink and toilet.He said James is "full of love for her children."James and her husband, Chauncey, were in the process of adopting the 4-year-old girl and her older sister. The girls moved into the home in January. At the time, James was pregnant with the couple's second child. James also has a son from another relationship.Chauncey James, 35, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge involving the 4-year-old.