ROBERT HENDRICKS - 2 months - Ogden UT

Ogden UT ---- An Ogden woman charged with murder in the January death of
her 2-month-old son has been found competent to stand trial.



In February
psychological evaluations were ordered for 25-year-old Jewell Hendricks. On
Thursday 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda was told the testing found Hendricks
competent.

Charges say Hendricks' infant son, Robert Hendricks, was
smothered with a sleeping bag and had a skull fracture and other
injuries.

Police say Hendricks called 911 Jan. 24 to report that her baby
had stopped breathing. He died on the way to the hospital. Robert was one of
twin boys.

Hendricks' public defender says his client is legally
competent but that mental health issues such as postpartum depression and sleep
deprivation need to be explored.

DiReda set a preliminary hearing for
April 21.

An overwhelmed mother, frustrated over caring for twins, said she
killed the one she loved least to make life easier, according to
testimony Wednesday in 2nd District Court.
"She told me she knew that Robert would suffocate," Ogden Detective
Brian Eynon said in detailing Jewell Hendricks' confession at her
preliminary hearing.
The 26-year-old said she first squeezed the fussy, crying child to
her chest, breaking his clavicle, Eynon said. Finding the infant still
breathing, Eynon testified, Hendricks told him she then placed him in a
sleeping bag with her on a couch, setting him at her hip and wedging him
against the back of the couch.
"She then fell asleep for several hours," Eynon said.
Hendricks is charged with murder in the Jan. 24 death of 2-month-old
Robert. She also is charged with child abuse for bruising found on
Robert's twin brother, Daniel, the day of the killing in the home she
shared with her husband and the siblings in the 400 block of Ogden's
27th Street.
Hendricks' husband, Phil, was apparently asleep when events unfolded,
according to police.
Eynon said she voluntarily sat for the interview after waiving, even
reciting from memory, her Miranda rights.
Eynon said Hendricks first said she was trying to silence the crying
child so her husband could sleep. Later in the interview, Hendricks said
having twins was too much for her.
"She said if she only had one child, it would make her life better,"
Eynon said. "And she loved Daniel more than she loved Robert."
Eynon said she used the word "intent" in saying life would be better
if she killed Robert. He said Hendricks was alternately calm or crying
during interrogation, but never was confused.
Ryan Bushell, public defender for Hendricks, said after the hearing
he would be looking at defense motions including consideration of the
fact Hendricks and her husband were both special education students in
high school.
In closing arguments, rare for a defense attorney at a preliminary
hearing, Bushell asked the judge to reduce the charges to child abuse or
neglect, as the only evidence of the child being smothered was
Hendricks' own testimony, which he said will be scrutinized.
He also noted that a deputy medical examiner's testimony found no
evidence the child was smothered. Dr. Pamela Ulmer also agreed the
child's two skull fractures could have come from falls any child is
prone to, Bushell said.
"Your honor, what we have here is a distraught mother who just lost a
child and thought it was her fault as she was trying to quiet the
child," Bushell argued. "What she didn't know was that Robert's head was
already busted up."
After finding enough evidence existed to advance Hendricks to trial,
Judge Michael DiReda set a status conference for July 29.

A February trial has been set for an Ogden woman accused of fatally smothering one of her twin sons.

Jewell Hendricks, 26, is charged with first-degree felony murder for allegedly smothering 2-month-old Robert Hendricks.

Second District Judge Michael DiReda scheduled a five-day trial to begin Feb. 14.

According to preliminary hearing testimony,
Hendricks told police the boy wouldn’t stop crying, and that she only
wanted to have one baby.

On Jan. 24, Jewell Hendricks covered the
boy’s face with a sleeping bag and “bear hugged” him against her
shoulder until he stopped crying, according to testimony. She then
placed the child in the crack of a couch and rolled over on top him with
her body for several hours, according to testimony.

An autopsy revealed the boy — who suffered a
skull fracture, bruising on the head and both arms, a broken collarbone
and bleeding of the eye — died from blunt force injury to the head
combined with smothering.

If convicted of murder, Hendricks faces a 15 years to life in prison.

She also is charged with one count of class A
misdemeanor child abuse for allegedly pinching and squeezing the
surviving twin when he cried in the days leading up to the slaying. That
twin was taken into state custody.

The trial of a mother accused of smothering her 2-year-old has been
postponed while attorneys debate her public defender's request for
additional funding.
Jewell Hendricks is charged with murder in the Jan. 24, 2010, death
of her son, Robert. She also is charged with child abuse for bruising
found on Robert's twin brother, Daniel, the day of the killing in her
home in the 400 block of Ogden's 27th Street. Her husband has never been
a suspect in the case.
On Thursday, Hendricks' February trial was canceled. Oral arguments
were then set for next month by 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda on
public defender Ryan Bushell's request for money to hire a pediatric
forensic pathologist to review the infant's fatal injuries.
Weber County funds the public defenders, which requires review of
their expenditures by the county attorney's office, also the prosecutors
in the case.
Having the opposition hold sway over a defense attorney's trial
resources can create a delicate legal tension. To solve that conflict of
interest, the civil lawyers in the county attorney's office, not the
prosecutors assigned the case, take up those debates.
Typically, prosecutors even leave the courtroom during those
discussions in open court that require public defenders to lay out trial
strategy.
At times, public defenders have been adamant about withholding the
names of experts they seek to hire. As a part of confidential strategy,
they've even had judges order the civil attorneys not to divulge such
details to the prosecutors they share an office with.
Bushell is not taking that route, giving out full details of the
expert he seeks to hire from Minnesota, who charges a $4,000 retainer
and an hourly rate of $400, fairly typical for trial-qualified expert
witnesses.
"On its face it may seem unfair for the county to dictate our fees,"
Bushell said after Thursday's hearing. "But they're not saying we aren't
entitled to our expert. They just want one closer to home to save
costs, and I understand where they're coming from."
He expects Chris Allred, the county attorney's civil-side lawyer
opposing his motion for additional funds at next month's oral arguments,
to argue prosecutors' experts typically are local.
"They're the ones who pay us, the county, as required by law, so they have a say in what's spent," Bushell said.
Bushell hopes whatever expert he is allowed to hire backs his defense
theory that unexplained prior injuries to the child contributed to the
death, not just the events of Jan. 24. That could bring the charge down
from murder to manslaughter, and one-to-15 years in prison instead of a
potential life sentence.
Ogden Police Det. Brian Eynon testified to Hendricks' confession at her preliminary hearing in 2nd District Court in June.
Hendricks, then 26, said she suffocated the child she loved less to make life easier for the other child, Eynon testified.
He said Hendricks first said she was trying to silence the crying
child so her husband could sleep. Later in the interview, Hendricks said
having twins was too much for her, Eynon said. "And she loved Daniel
more than she loved Robert."
Bushell argued at the time Hendricks' intelligence level had her in
special education classes in high school, and she mistakenly believed
her actions killed her son. He also said medical testimony does not
strongly support death by suffocation.

Mother accepts plea deal in infant twin's death

Updated: 7/28 2:09 pm | Published: 7/28 11:44 am

OGDEN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - An Ogden mother has accepted a plea deal and will most likely spend 15 years in prison for smothering her infant son.

Jewell Hendricks pleaded guilty to 1st degree murder of her 2-month-old son and prosecutors agreed to drop a child abuse charge against her in court on Thursday.

a sentencing conference was scheduled for September 9. Prosecutors recommended the 15-year sentence.

Investigators say 25-year-old Hendricks smothered her infant son Robert Hendricks with a sleeping bag when he wouldn't stop crying in January.

Investigators said that the baby had multiple other injuries as well, including a fractured skull and broken collarbone.

Hendricks called 911 on the morning of January 24, telling dispatchers her son was not breathing.

Robert was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police say during questioning, Jewell Hendricks confessed to killing her son.

Robert's twin brother Daniel Hendricks was placed in state custody pending a DCFS investigation.

Police say the boy's father was at home at the time of the death, but was asleep.

A public defender said that Hendricks was suffering from postpartum depression at the time of the child's death.

http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story/Mother-accepts-plea-deal-in-infant-twins-death/DofzDbxWDkaJ4cHwttf0vw.cspx

A 27-year-old Ogden woman has been ordered to serve 15 years to life
in prison after pleading guilty to smothering her 2-month-old son to
death with a sleeping bag.
Jewell Hendricks was sentenced Friday in Ogden’s 2nd District Court.
Prosecutors had dropped a second charge of child abuse when Hendricks
pleaded guilty in July to first-degree felony murder.

Police say Hendricks called 911 Jan. 24, 2010, to report that her son
Robert stopped breathing. He died on the way to the hospital.

Robert was one of her twin sons. Prosecutors say Hendricks thought her life would be easier with just one child.

Hendricks’ public defender has said she had been suffering postpartum depression and sleep deprivation when the infant died.
http://universe.byu.edu/index.php/2011/09/09/ogden-mom-gets-15-to-life-in-twin-baby-boys-death/