HOMER WORKMAN - 3 Months (2008) - Uniontown (Southwest corner) PA

Testifying in her own defense, a Fayette County woman accused of
homicide in the death of her 3-month-old baby denied having hurt the
infant.

Lori Beth Workman, 27, of Uniontown on Wednesday testified she
learned her infant son, Homer, died of blunt-force trauma to the head
during an interview with Uniontown police Capt. David Rutter several
months after Homer's death on Sept. 22, 2008.

"I asked him how could it happen?" Workman testified. "How, who, what, where?"

Workman is on trial in Fayette County on charges of criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of children.

Yesterday, she testified she told Rutter she had done nothing to harm Homer.

"I told him I did not do anything to my child," Workman said. "I'm a good mother."

Workman denied allegations she struck Homer in the head twice with
sections of a crib a month before his death. She denied having allowed
his head to bang repeatedly against the handle of a stroller as she
carried him in a papoose, or of having squeezed him tightly to her chest
on two other occasions.

Workman testified she had no memory of admitting to the allegations
during the interview with Rutter and a Children and Youth Services
Worker, Gina D'Auria. She testified she was unaware that a statement
D'Auria typed, and that she signed, was a confession.

Workman acknowledged one incident in which Homer's head struck a door
as she carried him, but she said the impact "wasn't hard, and he
didn't cry."

She denied allegations by her husband, Eric, that Homer's frequent
crying left her frustrated. She said her frustration stemmed from unpaid
bills. She testified she never told Eric Workman she wished she had
never had children.

"I always wanted my kids," she said, indicating she and Eric have two
other children, ages 4 and 2. "They're a blessing to me. Always have
been."

Rebutting her husband's testimony that he was never alone with Homer,
Lori Workman testified her husband was by himself when he took Homer
to the emergency room a few days after he was born. In addition, she
testified Eric Workman was Homer's sole caregiver when she was
hospitalized Sept. 3, 2008, for kidney stones, and that he went alone
with Homer on pediatrician visits.

Lori Workman, who showed little emotion during much of the trial,
appeared near tears at times during her testimony. She buried her head
in her hands and wiped a tissue at her eyes after leaving the stand and
returning to her seat next to her attorneys.

Mary Spegar, one of Lori Workman's attorneys, told jurors Eric Workman had opportunity to hurt Homer.

She pointed out it was Eric Workman who took Homer, alone, to
Uniontown Hospital's emergency room a few days after he was born because
he was fussy. It was Eric Workman, she said, who switched Homer's
pediatricians, and then missed a follow-up appointment.

"Why take him to a different doctor?" Spegar said. "Is he trying to hide something?"

Eric Workman of Waynesburg is not charged in Homer's death.

Spegar noted that two prosecution witnesses testified Homer sustained
one of his head injuries three months before his death. The timing,
she said, does not coincide with the allegation that Lori Workman hit
Homer with the crib rails a month before he died.

"We do not have a timeline here," Spegar said. "There are many pieces to the puzzle that are missing."

New and old injuries to Homer's brain were so severe that a
prosecution witness, forensic neurologist Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams of The
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said she had trouble finding the
words to describe them.

A portion of Homer's right hemisphere, Rorke-Adams testified, exhibited "devastating destruction."

"The rest was a complete, total disaster," Rorke-Adams testified. "There was nothing of normal tissue left."

Jurors are to return this morning to President Judge Gerald R.
Solomon's courtroom to hear closing arguments from Assistant District
Attorney Linda Cordaro before retiring for deliberations.

Read more: Uniontown slaying defendant: 'I'm a good mother' - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_749791.html#ixzz1U1w1zmQ7

Jury convicts Uniontown mother in baby's death
Friday, August 5, 2011

A Fayette County mother was found guilty Thursday of third-degree homicide in the death of her 3-month-old son, Homer.

After three days of testimony, a jury of eight women and four men deliberated for three and a half hours yesterday before delivering the verdict against Lori Beth Workman.

Standing next to her two attorneys, Workman, 27, of 8 Varndell St., Uniontown, showed little emotion as the verdict was read.

Seated in the back of the courtroom, Homer's father, Eric Workman Sr. of Waynesburg, cried softly as jurors were polled individually.

"I'm very pleased the jury could see the malice involved in this case," Assistant District Attorney Linda Cordaro said.

Workman had faced the possibility of a life sentence had she been found guilty of first-degree homicide. With the third-degree conviction, she faces a maximum of 20 to 40 years in prison. In addition, Workman was found guilty of endangering the welfare of children.

Uniontown police Capt. David Rutter filed the charges after an autopsy showed Homer died on Sept. 22, 2008, of blunt-force trauma to the head.

Homer had a fractured skull and fractured ribs, with evidence of new and old injuries.

Two prosecution experts testified a seven-ounce blood clot on the right hemisphere of the infant's brain inhibited its growth. At the time of Homer's death, the right hemisphere of his brain was two-thirds the size of his left, they testified.

District Attorney Jack Heneks said the medical testimony helped to secure the conviction, especially that of forensic neurologist Dr. Lucy B. Rorke Adams of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Rorke-Adams told jurors that damage to the right hemisphere of Homer's brain exhibited "devastating destruction."

"The rest was a complete, total disaster," Rorke-Adams testified. "There was nothing of normal tissue left."

Rutter and Gina D'Auria, a Fayette Children and Youth Services manager, testified Lori Workman told them she hit Homer twice in the head with a crib rail on Aug. 20, 2008. She admitted to allowing his head to strike a stroller handle as she carried him in a papoose on another occasion, they testified, and squeezed him on two occasions.

Workman denied having harmed Homer. She could not recall having signed a statement acknowledging she had struck and squeezed her child, and she denied making any incriminating admissions to Rutter.

"I told him I did not do anything to my child," Workman testified on Wednesday. "I'm a good mother."

Defense attorney Mary Spegar said the timing of Homer's injuries did not coincide with her client's alleged confession.

She noted the beating with the crib rails was said to have occurred a month before Homer's death, yet prosecution witnesses testified one of Homer's head injuries was three months old. She said another of Homer's head injuries was estimated to be a few days old, but there was no testimony to indicate Lori Workman inflicted it.

"Homer Workman did not have a chance to survive in the care of his mother," Cordaro told jurors. "He was severely abused from the beginning of his life, throughout his short life, and it was his own mother's severe abuse that caused his death."

Shortly after the verdicts were announced, Lori Workman was placed in handcuffs and led to the Fayette County jail, where she is being held without bail.

She will be sentenced 9 a.m. Aug. 11 before President Judge Gerald R. Solomon



Read more: Jury convicts Uniontown mother in baby's death - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_749977.html#ixzz1UBBJ2HAB

Uniontown mother gets max sentence

By Liz Zemba, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 12, 2011

A Fayette County woman who claimed to be a "good mother" during her trial for beating her 3-month-old son repeatedly until he finally succumbed to his injuries took no responsibility for his death on Thursday.

"I would never hurt my son," said Lori Beth Workman, 27, of Uniontown during her sentencing hearing before President Judge Gerald R. Solomon. "I'm a good mother."

Unconvinced, Solomon sentenced Workman to the maximum of 20 to 40 years in prison for third-degree homicide in the death of her son, Homer Workman. On a charge of endangering the welfare of children, Solomon imposed a concurrent sentence of one to two years.

"You were blessed with a miracle; from your womb came God's greatest gift, a child," said Solomon.

"As a mother, you should have loved and nurtured him," he said. "Instead, you brutalized him."

Homer was found dead in his crib on Sept. 22, 2008, of blunt-force trauma to the head. A jury last week convicted Workman of both charges after a weeklong trial.

Trial testimony revealed Workman told Uniontown police Capt. David Rutter and a Children and Youth Services worker she struck Homer twice in the head with crib rails a month before his death. In addition, she confessed to having allowed Homer's head to strike repeatedly off the handle of a baby stroller as she carried him in a papoose.

Medical experts testified a large blood clot on the right side of Homer's brain caused it to grow to only one-third the size of the left side. They said Homer had a fractured skull and ribs, with evidence of new and old injuries.

During her trial, Workman denied she had made the statements to Rutter and the CYS worker, or that she had harmed Homer. Yesterday, her father, Alan Matthews of Uniontown, took the stand in his daughter's defense before sentencing.

"Lori is a kind and giving person," Matthews said as his daughter, wearing a two-piece yellow prison uniform, pink handcuffs and leg shackles, looked on. "She would never hurt anyone, or anything, and never has."

Noting the victim's age and Workman's apparent lack of remorse, Solomon said he would show no mercy in imposing sentence.

"While my heart, my soul, my very being are filled with compassion and pity, not even one iota is for you," Solomon said to Workman. "Every single bit is for your victim, your son, Homer."

Rutter credited the work of medical experts, especially Fayette Coroner Dr. Phillip Reilly, with securing the conviction.

"If it wasn't for the diligence and work of Dr. Reilly, who brought this case to life and took the steps he did, we wouldn't be here, and they could very easily have overlooked this," Rutter said. "He was the spark that set this case on fire."

Workman was remanded to the Fayette County Prison to await transfer to the State Correctional Institution at Muncy in Clinton Township, Lycoming County.



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