MILLICENT WILBORN - 2 yo (2009) - Seal Beach CA

SEAL BEACH -- A stay-at-home mother of four from Orange County has been
arrested on charges of killing one of her 2-year-old twins and injuring the other.

Seal Beach police say 31-year-old Linda Wilborn was arrested Monday at
Orange County Social Services Agency when she visited her other three
children, who were placed in protective custody last December.

Wilborn is charged with one felony count of assault on a child with
force likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death and
three felony counts of child abuse, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say Wilborn used "tremendous blunt force" on her daughter Millicent on December 17 while her husband was at work.

She then called 911 to report the toddler was not responsive, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The toddler died of a ruptured heart at a hospital and was found to have fresh and old fractures to her ribs.

Authorities say the other twin had a fractured skull.

The other two children -- a 3-year-old girl and an 8-month-old boy --
did not exhibit any physical signs of trauma, according to Deputy
District Attorney Scott Simmons.

Authorities do not know the motive behind the alleged murder.

Wilborn is being held on $1 million bail. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.

Her arraignment is set for Wednesday.

OMG this is my little town!!

Poor baby. Died of a broken heart

SANTA ANA – The arraignment of a stay-at-home mother of four accused of killing one of her infant twins was postponed by a day Wednesday.
Linda Wilborn, 31, Seal Beach, is accused of inflicting blunt force on the female twin, named Millicent, on Dec. 17, 2009 and then calling 911 to report her baby was not responsive, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office. Her husband was not home at the time.Millicent died later at a hospital. The other twin, a boy, suffered a fractured skull – which prosecutors say was also inflicted by Wilborn.
During her brief hearing Wednesday afternoon, which was conducted by video from Orange County Jail, Wilborn agreed to postpone her arraignment until Thursday so that her family could hire a lawyer. When she wasn't answering the judge's questions, her eyes were downcast, and she frequently nodded her head from side to side.
Bail was set at $1 million.
Wilborn's other two children – a 3-year-old girl and an eight-month-old boy -- do not have injuries, Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons has said.
There have not been any past instances of physical abuse, and that authorities do not know the motive behind the alleged killing, prosecutors said.
Wilborn was arrested Monday while she was at Orange County Social Services Agency visiting her children, who are in protective custody, prosecutors said.
She is charged with one felony count of assault on a child with force likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death and three felony counts of child abuse, prosecutors said.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.

Seal Beach fatal child abuse case: preliminary hearing to continue Jan. 28, 2011

Millicent Wilborn died on Dec. 17, 2009. She was 22 months old. Her twin brother suffered a skull fracture on that day, but lived. There is no evidence that either of their two siblings were ever mistreated. According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, their father was at work at the time the children were harmed. The family apparently lived in U.S. Navy housing in Seal Beach.

Their mother Linda Wilborn, 32, was arrested on Feb. 8, 2010. The DA’s Office charged Linda Wilborn with one count of child assault resulting in death and three counts of child abuse and endangerment.

According to the DA’s office, the charge of fatal child abuse is the equivalent of murder because the penalty is the same as a murder charge: 25 years to life in prison.

Linda Wilborn is in Orange County Jail. Bail has been set at $1 million.

Wilborn’s preliminary hearing began June 18, 2010. The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine if a case will go to trial.

Wilborn’s preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue on Jan. 28, 2011.

http://www.sunnews.org/crime/crime-log-winter-sun-region-court-case-updates/

The trial for a Seal Beach woman accused of killing her toddler and
abusing her three other children is pushed to June at her attorney's
request.



The trial for a Seal Beach woman charged with murdering her twin
daughter and abusing her three other children was pushed back to June
today.


Linda Wilborn, 33, was arrested more than two years ago, but her case
was pushed back today at the request of her attorney, Michael Becker of
the public defender’s office.


Wilborn could spend the rest of her life in prison if convicted of
one count of murder and four counts of child abuse and endangerment.
According to investigators, Wilborn’s children showed signs of abuse and
malnutrition.


It was 2009 when Wilborn called 911 to report that her 22-month-old
daughter, Millicent seemed weak and had stopped breathing. Millicent was
rushed to the hospital, where she died from a ruptured heart. Doctors
found that the toddler had fresh and old fractures to her ribs, and an
examination of her twin brother revealed a fractured skull, according to
the district attorney’s office.


Police believe Wilborn beat her daughter to death. The baby's twin
brother had a fractured skull but survived. The Wilborns lived on the
Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station while Linda Wilborn’s husband, Derrick
served as an Army recruiter. This month, military officials confirmed
that Derrick Wilborn faces a possible court martial.


Linda Wilborn remains in custody with her bail set at $1 million.


Her surviving children were placed in protective custody, and Wilborn
remains in jail after pleading not guilty to one count of murder and
several counts of child abuse.
http://losalamitos.patch.com/articles/trial-pushed-back-for-mom-accused-of-murder

Mistrial declared for mom accused in tot's death



A new medical article found by key prosecution witness overnight angered Linda Wilborn’s defense attorney.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/death-360998-article-judge.html

SANTA ANA – Saying he has "substantial concerns" about new medical literature, an Orange County judge declared mistrial Wednesday in the case of a mother accused of killing her 23-month-old child.

"It's problematic," said Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey, granting a motion for mistrial by Linda Wilborn's visibly angry defense attorney.



Linda Wilborn
"It's incumbent upon the people to fully investigate the issues before trial," the judge said, adding he did not want any appropriate information withheld from the jury but expressed reservations about the timing of the discovery of a new medical article more than two years after the Dec. 17, 2009, death.

Wilborn, 34, of Seal Beach, is charged with murder, assault on a child causing death and two child abuse counts. If convicted, she faces 25 years to life in state prison.

An angry Deputy Public Defender Michael Becker asked for a mistrial and slammed his hand on the defense table saying he would not participate during the direct examination of the prosecution's witness Dr. Anthony Juguilon, chief forensic pathologist for the Orange County Coroner, or cross examine him because he had not seen the article Juguilon had found overnight.

The defense's case, Becker told the judge, is based on the disputed cause of death of 23-month-old Millicent. Becker told jurors in his opening statement Tuesday an Orange County coroner's doctor "botched" an autopsy and experts really don't know what caused the child''s death.

"I don't call this due diligence on his part, I call it ambush," Becker said referring to Juguilon finding the 1995 article.

Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons disagreed, saying Juguilon did nothing wrong in continuing his due diligence in researching the medical literature.

The article addresses cases of laceration to the heart in children and posits that such tears in a household environment are non-accidental. Simmons told jurors a micro tear to the heart caused by the defendant squeezing the torso of the child and slamming her went undetected by the doctor who performed the autopsy.

The prosecutor told the judge the new article does not alter the case because the cause of death from day one has been blunt force injuries to Millicent's head and torso. Simmons said in his opening statement expert testimony will show Wilborn held from behind, squeezed and then slammed on a hard surface her girl, causing her death. The defendant is also accused of fracturing the skull of Millicent's twin brother.

The defense contends the injuries suffered by Millicent were from bad CPR the mother performed when "she desperately tried to save the life of her child."

Published: Oct. 16, 2012 Updated: Oct. 17, 2012 8:02 a.m.

Jury: Mom guilty of killing toddler

Linda Wilborn, 34, of Seal Beach was convicted of second-degree murder, assault on a child causing death.

By VIK JOLLY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A 34-year-old mother shook her head Tuesday after a jury found her guilty of killing her 23-month-old daughter, whom, prosecutors said, she held from behind, squeezed and then slammed on a hard surface.

The jury of six men and six women deliberated less than half a day before convicting Linda Wilborn, 34, of Seal Beach of second-degree murder, assault on a child causing death and two child-abuse counts. She faces 25 years to life in prison at her Dec. 7 sentencing by Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey.

"Millicent died at the hands of her mother," county Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons told jurors in his closing argument. "She died at the hands of the person who was supposed to protect her."

He said the defendant also fractured the skull of Millicent's twin brother, whom experts at Children's Hospital of Orange County found to be malnourished, developmentally delayed because of emotional neglect and suffering from multiple bruises consistent with grabbing and squeezing.

Wilborn's attorney, county Deputy Public Defender Michael Becker, argued that the daughter was injured from bad CPR that his client performed in a bid to save her life.

"She's desperately trying to help that kid," Deputy Public Defender Michael Becker told the jury.

The mother of four called 911 on Dec. 17, 2009, to report Millicent was unresponsive. She directed first responders to a back bedroom at her military-housing home in Seal Beach, where they found the child lying on the floor with her arms spread out, showing no signs of life and not breathing, prosecutors said.

Becker, who said he was "extremely disappointed" after the verdict, contended during trial that because of a substandard autopsy, there was no evidence of what caused the infant's death. Simmons said the autopsy showed the child died from blunt force trauma to the thorax.

"I am happy with the jury's verdict," Simmons said. "These child-death cases are always very difficult."

The defense described Wilborn as a religious woman diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder who was raising four children with some help from her U.S. Army recruiter husband.

She was cooking, watching television and playing with her 8-month-old child but had not checked on the twins in a while on the day of the incident, Becker said. Wilborn went to the room where the three other children were, found Millicent was not breathing, and began CPR, he said.

Simmons labeled the crime scene "staged," saying officials found the toys in the room in a neat pile even though the children had been playing there for hours.

And, he said, words that Wilborn used with her husband, not knowing the conversation was recorded by police, showed her guilt.

"Why would He want to bless me with twins if He knew I would do this to them, why? Why would He want to bring twins in my life to suffer? Why? Know that I was going to do this to them what I did to them upstairs," Wilborn told her husband, in part.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-834-3773 or vjolly@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/news/child-374749-wilborn-jury.html

At least this little angel got some justice. The evidence of abuse of even her other children was overwhelming. One more monster off the street but she should pay with her life.
William

Seal Beach child’s death leads to father’s court martialBy Charles M. Kelly | Wed, Jun 06 2012 10:19 AM

Late last week, the United States Army has convicted Sgt. First Class Derrick Wilborn of negligent homicide and child endangerment by culpable negligence in the death of his infant daughter, Seal Beach resident Millicent Wilborn. He was sentenced to 90 days confinement and reduction in rank.

He has been in the Army for over 22 years.

Millicent Wilborn died on Dec. 17, 2009. At the time, Seal Beach Police officers and Orange County Fire Authority Paramedics responded to a report of a child not breathing at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station housing. Millicent Wilborn was taken to Los Alamitos Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. According to Seal Beach Police Derrick Ron La Velle, Millicent was home with her mother and three siblings. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has said that Millicent’s father, Derrick Wilborn, was at work at the time.

As previously reported in the Sun, Millicent’s twin brother, who has only been identified as John Doe, was also hospitalized for a skull fracture that day. He survived.

There was no evidence the other two children were abused, according a joint Seal Beach PD, Orange County DA press release issued in Feburary 2010. Police took the three surviving children into custody.

The police investigation led to the arrest of Linda Wilborn, the child’s mother. The Orange County DA has charged Linda Wilborn with inflicting an injury to a child likely to result in great bodily injury or death, and second degree murder. Linda Wilborn was arrested that month while she was visiting her children at the Orange County Social Services Agency.

The United States Army preferred charges against Millicent’s father, Derrick Wilborn.

Between Tuesday, May 29, and Friday, June 1, Derrick First Class Derrick Wilborn was tried by general court-martial by a panel of officers sitting at Fort Irwin, California. Wilborn was convicted of the following offences: one count of negligent homicide, one count of child endangerment by culpable negligence resulting bodily harm, and one count of child endangerment by culpable negligence resulting in grievous bodily harm, all in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The panel of officers found that Derrick Wilborn knew his wife Linda Wilborn had been abusing their children prior to December, and that he negligently failed to prevent or intervene in their further abuse. The conviction was based on the investigation initiated by the SBPD.

Derrick Wilborn is a member of the Los Angeles Medical Recruiting Command, based in Long Beach. Derrick Wilborn's verdict carries the same effect as a federal conviction.

The panel sentenced Derrick Wilborn to be reduced from sergeant first class to specialist, a lower enlisted rank and to be confined for 90 days. Wilborn is currently being detained at Fort Irwin. The Army Corrections Command will determine where he will serve the remainder of his sentence. The reduction in rank will take effect on July 15, 2012.

According to the Orange County Superior Court website, Linda Wilborn’s trial is scheduled to continue June 15. According to La Velle, June 18. If Linda Wilborn is convicted of fatal child abuse, the penalty would be the same as a murder conviction: 25 years to life.

http://www.sunnews.org/latest-news/seal-beach-child-s-death-leads-to-father-s-court-martial/

This just caught my attention. The article is wrong. There was evidence of prior abuse in the other children. Bruising and fractures were found.
William

I hope the mother gets every minute of 25 years and I think it's a travesty that the father only got 90 days and a reduction in rank!!! He knew she was abusing those kids ad should have gotten 25 years too because if he had done something, the baby would be alive.

Why in the world do people have so many kids when they don't even want them. Ugh.