DAKOTA CASE ETHERIDGE - 3 Months (2010)/ Convicted: Mother; Sandy Kay Etheridge - Greenville NC

A Pitt County judge on Thursday closed his courtroom to the public for
proceedings related to an abused baby reported to be fighting for life.
District Court Judge Galen Braddy closed the weekly hearing because of
circumstances surrounding the case of 3-month-old Dakota Case Etheridge.
The infant suffered a traumatic brain injury, retinal bleeding and a broken
leg on March 22 at home, according to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.
The baby’s mother, Sandy Kay Etheridge, 27, is being held at the Pitt County
Detention Center on $1 million bond, charged with intentional abuse of the
child.
“This child is in dire straits,” Braddy said from the bench when explaining
his decision. He closed a similar hearing last week.
The judge said he issued a gag order prohibiting all parties involved with
the case from talking with the press or publicly discussing any matters
connected to it.
“This is an extremely sensitive matter. It also deals with confidential
records, including medical records pertaining to the child’s care,” Braddy said.
The child was listed in critical condition April 15 by Pitt County Memorial
Hospital. Information requested Thursday about the child’s condition was
withheld by hospital personnel.
According to Braddy, the only people allowed to participate in proceedings
include Nikki James, a Department of Social Services case worker; DSS Director
George Perry; a Guardian Ad Litem, a person appointed by the court to be the
baby’s advocate in legal matters; and Jason Williamson, Etheridge’s attorney.
The hearings are focused on the child’s status and decisions about his care.
The child’s grandmother, Cynthia Burchett, was barred from the courtroom last
week and said she has been shut out of legal matters and barred from visiting
her grandson.
She and another family member, Jennipher Dickens, an advocate with the Sarah
Jane Brain Project in New York, are concerned that the child will be removed
from life support and allowed to die without family intervention or objection
being permitted by the court, they said.
Perry confirmed last week that his agency was called to investigate the case,
but that is the only information state statutes allow DSS to share publicly
about specific incidents.
DSS was contacted by a PCMH social worker and has legal custody of the child,
according to other sources.

Unfortunalty Baby Dakota passed away on Monday June 7. He was taken off of life support. May he rest in peace.

That's sad news. Based on the original report I wasn't very hopeful.
Welcome to the blog Crescent! If you can provide any further info on the case we welcome your contributions.

Here is the news release on the updated story.

Shaken baby removed from life support
The Daily Reflector
Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A baby who suffered traumatic brain injury in March died Monday after it was taken off life support, the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office said.
Dakota Case Etheridge had been in the intensive care unit at Pitt County Memorial Hospital since March 22.
The baby was injured after reportedly being shaken by mother Sandy Kay Etheridge, 27, who was charged with one count of intentional abuse of the child.
It’s unknown if additional charges may be brought against Etheridge because of the baby’s death. Tripp said the baby’s autopsy is scheduled for today.
“We have to wait until the autopsy is done on Wednesday and then take the results to the district attorney who will take the case to the grand jury,” Tripp said.
Etheridge remained in the Pitt County Detention Center Tuesday after noon under a secured bond of $800,500.
The baby’s status had been at the center of several court hearings since the spring. District Court Judge Galen Braddy closed the hearings to the public.
Along with a brain injury, the baby suffered retinal bleeding and a broken leg, according to the sheriff’s office

Thanks Crescent for your update!

Please continue to follow this story for us...

News Update::
The Pitt County Medical Examiner's Office says a baby's death has been ruled a homicide.
Dakota Etheridge died Monday after the father of the baby took him off life support. The baby had been on a ventilator for the past three months at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.


The Medical Examiner's Office says the baby died from non-accidental head trauma. The baby's mother, Sandy Etheridge, was charged back in April with felony child abuse inflicting serious injury. At the time the baby was just 10 weeks old.
Pitt County Chief Deputy James Tripp says they'll use the information from the autopsy and go before a grand jury on Monday to have the charges against Etheridge upgraded.

RIP Baby Boy Dakota Case Etheridge

Here is the other story out of the Daily Reflector paper.
Baby's death ruled homicide
By Michael Abramowitz
The Daily Reflector
Wednesday, June 9, 2010


The death of a 5-month-old Greenville boy was found to be homicide Wednesday by the Pitt County Medical Examiner, officials there said.
Dakota Chase Etheridge, born Jan. 10, died from a non-accidental head trauma, ruled as a homicide, said Colleen Cheterton at the medical examiner’s office.
Sandy Kay Etheridge, 27, the child’s mother, is expected to be charged in the death early next week , Chief Investigator James Tripp said.
“A grand jury will convene Monday. If they return a bill of indictment, the mother will be charged with murder,” Tripp said.
The child was taken off life support Sunday at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Tripp said, six weeks after being placed in intensive care with severe bleeding in his brain, ruptured retinas and a fractured left leg.
The decision to remove the child from life support was made by his father after he was given custody in a closed court proceeding that included officials with the county Department of Social Services, law enforcement officers, a guardian ad litem and legal representatives for the mother, Tripp said.

Murder charges are expected to come against a Pitt County woman in
connection with the death of her five-month-old son.



Pitt County deputies say Sandy Etheridge
will likely be charged Monday. She's currently charged with child abuse
after investigators say she shook her then ten-week-old son in March.
He’s been on life support with head trauma ever since - the boy's father
decided to pull life support last week. Medical examiners ruled the
child’s death a homicide. A grand jury will meet Monday to decide
whether to charge Etheridge with murder.

Grand jury deliberates on indictment in baby's death
The Daily Reflector
Monday, June 14, 2010
A Pitt County grand jury deliberated on a murder indictment Monday for a woman accused of causing her baby’s death.
Pitt County District Attorney Clark Everett said his office asked for the indictment against Sandy Kay Etheridge, 27, in the June 7 death of her 5-month-old son, Dakota Chase Etheridge. Officials would not say Monday if the jury returned a true bill because paperwork had not been processed
A true bill would require the Pitt County Clerk of Court to issue an order for arrest, which would be served by law enforcement, according to a court official and James Tripp, chief of investigations with the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.
The baby had been in intensive care at Pitt County Memorial Hospital since March 22. He suffered severe bleeding in his brain, ruptured retinas and a fractured left leg. Etheridge was jailed on one count of intentional abuse at the time.
The baby was taken off life support, and his death was ruled a homicide by the state medical examiner’s office in Greenville.
The child’s father ended life support after he was given custody in a closed court proceeding before Judge Galen Braddy.
The infant died in the arms of his maternal grandmother.

A Pitt County grand jury has indicted a mother for the death of her son.

Sandy Etheridge was indicted for first degree murder in the death of Dakota Etheridge. The infant died last Monday after being taken off life support.

Deputies say the baby was just 10 weeks old when he was hospitalized with severe head injuries back in April.

Etheridge remains in jail with no bond.

A woman suspected in a March incident that resulted in the June 7 death of her baby has been charged with murder, according to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.
A Pitt County grand jury deliberated Monday on a murder indictment Monday against Sandy Kay Etheridge in the death of her 5-month-old son, Dakota Chase Etheridge. A news release and court records indicate she was served with the murder charge on Tuesday, her 28th birthday.
She remains in Pitt County Detention Center. She is being held without bond.
The baby had been in intensive care at Pitt County Memorial Hospital since March 22. He suffered severe bleeding in his brain, ruptured retinas and a fractured left leg. Etheridge was jailed on one count of intentional abuse at the time.
The baby was taken off life support, and his death was ruled a homicide by the state medical examiner’s office in Greenville.
The child’s father ended life support after he was given custody in a closed court proceeding before Pitt County District Court Judge Galen Galen Braddy.
The father, Kenneth Wayne Wilson, 39, has a criminal record dating to 1995 and has been in prison in Pender County since November, according to prison records and the sheriff’s office.
Wilson is serving a 15-month sentence for larceny of more than $1,000. He also has pending charges connected to an alleged assault on Sandy Kay Etheridge.
His criminal conviction record includes assault inflicting serious injury, possession of class II drugs, injury to personal property, larceny, breaking and entering, motor vehicle theft, possession of stolen goods and forgery, Department of Correction records dating to 1995 show.
The child was in custody of the Department of Social Services before the court awarded custody to Wilson.
Judge Braddy said as the proceedings about the child progressed that state law prohibited him and others from commenting on the process. After the child’s death, he again said he could not discuss the case.
The child’s maternal grandmother, Cynthia Burchett expressed concerns in April that she was not being allowed to visit the baby and had been locked out of all court and DSS proceedings.
Burchett was later allowed to visit the baby, and held him in her arms as he died, according to a family member. She has not commented on the matter since April.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:Murder charges are expected to come against a Pitt County woman in
connection with the death of her five-month-old son.



Pitt County deputies say Sandy Etheridge
will likely be charged Monday. She's currently charged with child abuse
after investigators say she shook her then ten-week-old son in March.
He’s been on life support with head trauma ever since - the boy's father
decided to pull life support last week. Medical examiners ruled the
child’s death a homicide. A grand jury will meet Monday to decide
whether to charge Etheridge with murder.

She looks evil.

angie56 wrote:

TomTerrific0420 wrote:Murder charges are expected to come against a Pitt County woman in
connection with the death of her five-month-old son.



Pitt County deputies say Sandy Etheridge
will likely be charged Monday. She's currently charged with child abuse
after investigators say she shook her then ten-week-old son in March.
He’s been on life support with head trauma ever since - the boy's father
decided to pull life support last week. Medical examiners ruled the
child’s death a homicide. A grand jury will meet Monday to decide
whether to charge Etheridge with murder.

She looks evil.

Do you know her?

What is sad is the fact that the DSS had taken four of her children and then when they tried to take Dakota. Judge Galen Braddy refused to allow them to take him from her. Now it seems in order to save Court time and circumvent months or years of litigation that would be needed to remove Dakota from life support. This same Judge Braddy gave what is called the father of Dakota custody in what appears to have been an easy quick way of pulling the plug on this poor child without going through the legal process. I mean come on you give a man that is a long time felon that has assualted women and is currently in prison custody when he can't even take physical custody. In my mind the Judge, the DSS Attorney, the GAL, and the GAL Attorney should be brought before the grand jury in Pitt County on at the least charges of invouluntary manslaughter. Pitifull and sad.

sjhenderson wrote:What is sad is the fact that the DSS had taken four of her children and then when they tried to take Dakota. Judge Galen Braddy refused to allow them to take him from her. Now it seems in order to save Court time and circumvent months or years of litigation that would be needed to remove Dakota from life support. This same Judge Braddy gave what is called the father of Dakota custody in what appears to have been an easy quick way of pulling the plug on this poor child without going through the legal process. I mean come on you give a man that is a long time felon that has assualted women and is currently in prison custody when he can't even take physical custody. In my mind the Judge, the DSS Attorney, the GAL, and the GAL Attorney should be brought before the grand jury in Pitt County on at the least charges of invouluntary manslaughter. Pitifull and sad.

So very sad and the worst part is, it seems to happen everyday. I agree with you tho', if there were other children removed from the home due to abuse/neglect then Dakota should have been removed also. If these judges/attorney's/children services are being negligent then they also deserved to be charged.
SOMETHING has got to stop or at least slow down this train, children suffer everyday because of the courts or their parents/boyfriends.
RIP Dakota, your safe now.

Murder suspects in Pitt County expected in court
By RACHEL GALLAHER
Published: February 08, 2011


GREENVILLE, N.C. - Some murder suspects are expected to go before a judge in Pitt County on Tuesday morning.

First, Sandy Kay Etherege is expected in court. She was charged with murder after the death of her five-month-old son. Etheridge was charged with child abuse last March and the murder charge was added after the child died last June.

http://www2.wnct.com/news/2011/feb/08/murder-suspects-pitt-county-expected-court-ar-764923/

NC woman pleads guilty in death of 5-month-old son

Posted on: 9:24 am, July 12, 2012
updated on: 09:27am, July 12, 2012
by Joe Borlik


Sandy Kay Etheridge

GREENVILLE, N.C. — A Pitt County woman has pleaded guilty in the death of her 5-month-old son and sentenced to nearly eight years in prison.

The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported that 30-year-old Sandy Kay Etheridge pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2010 death of Dakota Chase Etheridge.

The newspaper reported that Etheridge said she may have picked up her baby without supporting his head the morning of March 22, 2010.

The child suffered severe bleeding in his brain, ruptured retinas, and a fractured left leg.

The district attorney says Etheridge’s boyfriend also had access to the child and there was insufficient evidence to prove that Etheridge caused her son’s death.

She’s expected to be released from prison in 2017.

http://myfox8.com/2012/07/12/nc-woman-pleads-guilty-in-death-of-5-month-old-son/

Woman sentenced in death of child

By Kristin Zachary, The Daily Reflector
Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Greenville woman was sentenced to up to 92 months in prison after pleading guilty in the 2010 death of her 5-month-old son.

Sandy Kay Etheridge, 30, agreed June 25 in Pitt County Superior Court to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Dakota Chase Etheridge. She was indicted on June 14, 2010, on a first-degree murder charge.

Emergency personnel were dispatched to 1404 Amanda Court at 9:38 a.m. on March 22, 2010, and arrived to find the baby “pulseless, unresponsive, apneic and blue in color,” an autopsy report said.

https://www.reflector.com/news/woman-sentenced-death-child-1135195