The BROADHEAD-SMITH Children - 1, 4 and 5 yo - Pahrump NV

A mother whose three children died along with their babysitter in a
blaze at their mobile home has been charged with manslaughter and child abuse.
Police allege Sharon Broadhead, 29, neglected her
children by failing to keep them away from materials they may have used
to start the fire, in Pahrump, Nevada.
Elliot Zachary Broadhead, one, Zachary Broadhead, four, and Brandon Smith, five,
all died in the blaze along with their 24-year-old babysitter, their mother's friend Crystal Smiley.






In a press release reported by the New York Daily News, Nye County Sheriff's Office said
two of the children had started fires on at least
two previous occasions - and their mother knew about it.
The sheriff's office said: 'The lack of supervision was not an isolated incident
to the morning of the fire, but routine to the fact that two children destroyed an entire
room with putting holes in the walls and starting fires on at least two
occasions prior.'Police also said Broadhead's lighter - which the
children had used to start one of the previous fires - was missing from
her handbag.And Scott Lewis, a Pahrump Valley fire chief,
said their investigation showed it was an 'apparent accidental fire possibly
ignited by a juvenile resident', the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.Firefighters
pulled all three children from the burning caravan but they died in hospital.
Their babysitter, Miss Smiley, called 911 while trapped in the
blaze but she died from smoke inhalation.Broadhead suffered smoke inhalation and
cuts to her hands from broken window glass, according to the Review-Journal.
She was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and three
counts of child abuse on Saturday and released on $35,000 bail.
She is due to make her first court appearance on Monday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356711/Mother-accused-neglect-manslaughter-children-die-caravan-started-themselves.html#ixzz1DuC1Zttx

Mother Charged In Fatal Fire Out Of Jail

POSTED: 1:34 pm PST February 14, 2011
LAS VEGAS -- A Pahrump woman whose three children and roommate were killed in a fire
last week was released from jail on her own recognizance Monday.
Sharon Broadhead, 29, was arrested on Saturday and charged with four counts of
involuntary manslaughter, child abuse and neglect.Authorities said she knew her children had a tendency to start fires and did not take preventative measures to protect them.The
fire killed 5-year-old Brandon Michael Smith, 4-year-old Zachary
Broadhead, 18-month-old Elliot Broadhead and a roommate, 24-year-old
Crystal Smiley.Smiley’s mother defended Broadhead on Monday, saying she isn’t to blame."I
know as a mother and from being friends with Sharon that there was no
part of that that she had inticipated would happen,” Cynthia Smiley told
FOX5.Broadhead’s attorney, Thomas Gibson, also argued
that Broadhead was under no obligation to report previous incidents to
authorities."Why would you want to empower the state to go after
your kids,” he said. “if your kids started a fire, I think the majority
of people would try and keep that in house."

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/26863405/detail.html

PAHRUMP, Nev. -- On Wednesday, The Nye County Sheriff's Office arrested
the mother of the three children who died in a fire earlier this year.

Sharon Broadhead was arrested and charged with
three counts of child abuse and neglect causing death and four counts of
involuntary manslaughter.

The investigation revealed that the children had
started previous fires in the home and that preventive measures from
the mother were not taken.

Police say the lack of supervision was not an
isolated incident to the morning fire, but routine. Detectives say two
children destroyed an entire room of the house by putting holes in the
walls and starting fires on at least two other occasions.

Police say a pillow was set on fire and another
incident of a piece of paper catching fire inside the home and the
mother knew about it. These incidents happened within two to three
months prior to the fatal fire.

Detectives say one of the children had been caught on at least one occasion sneaking a lighter from the mother's purse.

Police say the events that led to a fire
starting at the home stemmed from a routine of child neglect and lack of
supervision from the mother, causing the loss of four lives.
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14019652/breaking-news-mother-of-children-killed-pahrump-house-fire-arrested

Mother who survived 2011 fire gets probation

Posted on09 May 2012
By Matt Ward

The lone survivor of a February 2011 house fire that killed three of her children and a family friend pleaded guilty to a single charge of felony child abuse and neglect on Monday.

Sharon Broadhead was in District Court to officially accept a plea deal made between her attorney and county prosecutors.

Broadhead was arrested by Nye County Sheriff’s detectives three days after her sons, 18-month-old Elliott Broadhead, 4-year-old Zachary Broadhead, 5-year-old Brandon Michael Smith and friend Crystal Smiley, 24, all perished after flames engulfed a home on Prospector Lane. She was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of child abuse at the time.

Broadhead’s attorney, Tom Gibson, vowed to fight against what he characterized as inept police work on the part of the sheriff’s department.

A review of the case by the district attorney’s office later resulted in the lone charge against Broadhead.

Sources close to the case suggested that Gibson was ready to fight even that single charge until evidence surfaced of a relationship between one of Broadhead’s surviving daughters, a minor, and an adult male. Because Broadhead supposedly allowed the relationship to continue, it was seen as hurting her ability to defend herself against the child abuse allegation in court.

A copy of a plea agreement memorandum obtained by the Pahrump Valley Times supports that description of events leading up to Monday’s hearing.

The agreement gives Broadhead five years probation and the ability to have the charge dismissed if she completes probation with no violations. Normally, even defendants on probation get time for good behavior. She will get no such reduction. If she fails to complete probation for any reason, the state would charge her with a gross misdemeanor and recommend a term of one year in the county jail on one count of child abuse and neglect. The plea agreement suggests Broadhead could face the possibility of two to 20 years in prison if she were sentenced on the original category B felony. That is unlikely now, however.

In reference to her minor daughter, the plea memorandum states: “Lastly, as a result of this negotiation, the State will not pursue charges resulting from an arrest at her residence on Feb. 8 2012, where her 15-year-old daughter’s 19-or-20-year-old boyfriend was found hiding in her daughter’s bedroom dressed only in his underwear.”

Broadhead was somber in court. Dressed in black, she was accompanied by family members. The parents of her estranged husband sat in the back of the courtroom.

Judge Robert Lane asked Broadhead a series of questions, gauging whether she understood what she was pleading to and the consequences if she didn’t live up to her end of the bargain.

At one point he asked the defendant whether she had ever been treated for a mental illness, to which she said yes. Gibson interrupted and said that she suffered from anxiety and was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Asked if she was lucid enough to continue the hearing, she told the judge she was fine.

“Are you pleading guilty to the fact that on or about February 9, 2011, here in Pahrump, Nye County there was an incident at your home involving the death of children and you are pleading guilty to child abuse because of that?” the judge asked.

“Yes your honor,” she replied, her voice cracking with emotion.

The hearing ended and a sentencing date was set for Aug. 20. The judge is expected to accept the state’s recommendation for probation then.

At that all concerned parties left without comment.

Asked to describe how Broadhead secured such a lenient deal after facing such a harsh arrest and more serious felony charges in the days following the fire, the county’s chief prosecutor, Kirk Vitto said the plea agreement spoke for itself.

Later, Vitto released a statement that read: “After a lengthy, detailed review of all reports and facts pertinent to the case, and speaking at length with various individuals, we came up with what we thought was a just, right, and reasonable resolution to a very tragic incident. There was obviously nothing we could do to bring back the lives of those lost. If that were possible, certainly the defendant would be at the top of the list of people wanting to see that done.

“Under the circumstances, the totality of the circumstances, taking everything into consideration, this was what we considered to be the best way to resolve a horrible, horrible incident happening within our community, and try to bring something positive out of something nightmarish.”

http://pvtimes.com/news/mother-who-survived-2011-fire-gets-probation/