"Toddler John" PARKER - 4 yo - Heavener (nr AR border) OK

A Heavener couple accused of child abuse following burn injuries
to the woman’s 4-year-old son were bound over for trial following a
preliminary hearing in LeFlore County District Court on Thursday.

According to court records, Jessica Marie Parker, 27, will be
formally arraigned at 1:30 p.m. June 16 on a felony charge of child abuse by neglect.

They were arrested March 29. Parker is free on a $50,000 bond.
She is represented by defense attorney Douglas Schmuck of Poteau.

Hairrell is represented by court-appointed attorney Matthew
Orendorff of Sallisaw. He remains in the LeFlore County Detention
Center, a jail official said Friday.

According to court records, Heavener police arrested Parker and
Hairrell, her boyfriend, after the couple took Parker’s son to the
Affordable Medical Clinic on March 29.

The boy had suffered second- and third-degree burns over his body
from the neck down, and clinic staff alerted police to the
incident, which is believed to have occurred on the evening of
March 27, according to the LeFlore County District Attorney’s Office.

The child was transported by helicopter to the burn unit at St.
Francis Medical Center in Tulsa for treatment.

Parker and Hairrell told investigators the boy fell into a
bathtub filled with hot water and they’d treated his burns with aloe vera.

A Heavener mother accused of child abuse by neglect after her
4-year-old son was burned in March is scheduled for a jury trial on
Sept. 13, according to LeFlore County District Court records.

Jessica Marie Parker, 27, was formally arraigned on the charge
Wednesday afternoon and is scheduled to appear for a District Court
status docket on Aug. 20 and a pretrial conference on Sept. 1. She
is represented by defense attorney Douglas W. Schmuck of
Poteau.The formal arraignment scheduled for her boyfriend, Cecil Allen
Matthew Hairrell, 25, of Heavener was postponed until July 7,
according to his court records. Hairrell is charged with child
abuse, and is represented by court-appointed defense attorney
Matthew R. Orendorff of Sallisaw. Hairrell is being held in the
LeFlore County Detention Center.

Parker is free on a $50,000 bond. Both defendants were bound over
for trial following a June 3 preliminary hearing. Trial dates
typically are set following formal arraignments.

According to court records, Heavener police arrested Parker and
Hairrell after the couple took Parker's son for treatment at the
Affordable Medical Clinic in Heavener on March 29.

The boy had second- and third-degree burns over his body from the
neck down. Clinic staff alerted police to the incident, which is
believed to have occurred on the evening of March 27, according to
the LeFlore County District Attorney's Office.

The child was transported by helicopter to the burn unit at St.
Francis Medical Center in Tulsa for treatment.

Parker and Hairrell told investigators the boy fell into a
bathtub
filled with hot water. They said they treated the boy's burns with
aloe vera, not realizing how severe the burns were.

A Heavener man pleaded no contest to two child abuse charges Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison on each charge. Cecil Allen Matthew Hairrell, 25, was arrested March 29 in the burning of the 4-year-old son of his girlfriend, Jessica MarieParker, 27. According to court records, the boy suffered second-and third-degree burns from the neck down and was flown to the burn unit at St. Francis Medical Center in Tulsa for treatment. Hairrell and Parker told investigators the boy had fallen into a bathtub filled with hot water about two days earlier. According tocourt records, the couple said they'd treated the burns with aloe vera, not realizing how severe they were. Staff at a Heavener clinic alerted police of the potential child abuse when they brought the child in for treatment.Parker is charged with child abuse by neglect and has a jury trial scheduled Jan. 24. If convicted, she could face a life sentence, Assistant District Attorney Meg Nicholson said after Hairrell's plea hearing. Parker is free on a $50,000 bond.LeFlore County District Judge Danita Williams found Hairrell guilty on the charge of child abuse by injury, and found him guilty on the charge of child abuse by neglect. She told Hairrell the life sentences would run concurrently, and he would not receive any reduction in the time he must serve for good behavior.Williams told Hairrell that Oklahoma law requires him to serve85 percent of his sentence before he could be eligible for parole.Nicholson said the state Supreme Court determined a life sentence equates to 45 years for purposes of determining parole eligibility. Hairrell must serve 38 years and three months beforehe could be considered for parole, she said. He will receive creditfor jail time he's already served, Nicholson said.The child's grandmother said the family is happy with Hairrell's sentence."We'll take it, compared to what could have happened. We're looking forward to the mom's trial because she knew what was going on and didn't do anything about it," she said.The grandmother and eight of the child's other family members were present for the hearing. None of Hairrell's family was present.Defense attorney Matthew Orendorff of Sallisaw said Hairrell chose to accept the plea agreement because a jury could have given him sentences of any length, if it found him guilty. A judge could have chosen to run the sentences consecutively rather than concurrently, Orendorff said."With a life sentence, he has a possibility of parole during his lifetime," Orendorff said.The grandmother said she took the child home from the hospital on May 3. She said although he will need several more plastic surgeries, he is doing well now - running, playing and attending school."He's a sweetheart," she said.

Two life terms! Way to go Judge Danita Williams!

POTEAU — After denying a defense motion for a retrial, a LeFlore
County judge sentenced a Heavener mother convicted of child neglect
to 50 years in prison on Monday.


Following a five-day trial in July, a LeFlore County jury found
Jessica Marie Parker, 28, guilty in the March 27, 2010, incident
that left her then 4-year-old son with second- and third-degree
burns over his body from the neck down. At that time, the jury
recommended the 50-year sentence. In Oklahoma, a conviction on the charge of child abuse by neglect
is punishable by up to life in prison. That the state sets a life
sentence at 45 years and that Parker’s co-defendant, her then
live-in boyfriend, Cecil Allen Matthew Hairrell, had already
received a life sentence played roles in defense attorney Rob
Cowan’s request for a retrial.
Hairrell, 26, pleaded no contest on Oct. 13, 2010, to two charges,
child abuse by injury and child abuse by neglect. Then District
Judge Danita Williams sentenced him to life in prison on each
charge. The sentences run concurrently, and Hairrell must serve 85
percent of his sentence — 38 years and three months — before
becoming eligible for parole.
Parker must also serve 85 percent of her sentence — 42 years and
six months — before becoming eligible for parole, Assistant
District Attorney Meg Nicholson said after the hearing.
Cowan argued that Parker shouldn’t receive a greater sentence than
did Hairrell who actually caused the burns.
Parker and Hairrell told authorities the boy had fallen into a tub
of hot water. They waited two days to take the child to a clinic
for treatment. The couple was arrested after taking the boy to the
Affordable Medical Clinic in Heavener on March 29, 2010. Clinic
staff alerted police of the potential child abuse.
Cowan told Associate District Judge Brian Henderson he thought
several incidents prejudiced the jury against his client, including
one in which the child may have been seen by jury members outside
the District Attorney’s Office wearing only a shirt and underwear,
which would have exposed the burn scars on the child’s legs. Cowan
said his own secretary saw the child but didn’t know if any jurors
were present.
The judge had earlier ruled that the child could not be used to
model his burns during the trial, Cowan said.
Nicholson said the relative who took the child to the bathroom
after he soiled himself told her the boy was wearing a long, baggy
T-shirt. She said she’d tried to cover him up to shield him from
embarrassment, Nicholson said. She said the relative told her she
didn’t see any jurors in the bathroom. Furthermore, Nicholson said,
no one had been able to confirm the time at which the incident
happened, and it could have been that the jury was already
deliberating.
Cowan said other incidents included a nurse practitioner who
testified that Parker became upset when she learned the child would
be taken from the clinic to the Poteau hospital because she’d been
on probation and feared her children would be taken from her.
According to the trial transcript, Henderson instructed the jurors
to disregard the statement.
Cowan said unrequested detail offered by a physician also
prejudiced the jury against Parker. Cowan had asked if the doctor
agreed most of the damage to the child was already done regardless
whether the child was treated within two hours or 48 hours. The
doctor said the child would probably never be able to have children
due to the damage to his genital area.
At the time, Henderson admonished the doctor to limit his answers
to the questions asked.
Cowan also challenged a taped investigator’s interview of Parker in
which she asked the investigator if he was the district attorney on
her last charge. The tape had been played for the jury.
Henderson found that Parker’s statement had been voluntary and
given after she’d been informed that her statements could be used
against her. Furthermore, he said, she referred to a charge, not
whether there were convictions.
Henderson upheld the defense’s objection to a long, emailed victim
impact statement from the child’s grandmother. Cowan contended it
included detail about Parker’s history which was irrelevant to the
specifics of the case.
However, Henderson permitted the grandmother to take the stand,
limiting her to discussing only the events occurring after the
child’s injury.
The grandmother, the boy’s guardian since the incident, said the
boy was flown to a Tulsa burn center for treatment. He remained
unconscious for two days, his body covered with blisters and
burns.
She said he developed seven staph infections and underwent seven
painful skin grafts as well as multiple daily dressing changes so
painful he had to be sedated. He refused to be bathed in a tub or
even go into a bathroom for two months, she said. His older brother
remains frightened the boys will be taken away, and keeps an
emergency backpack filled with crackers and his stuffed dog tucked
under his mattress “just in case,” she said.
Several more surgeries are needed, and the financial toll on the
family has been “pretty devastating,” she said.
The child is in kindergarten now and doing well, the grandmother
told the Times Record. He is active, has learned how to ride a
two-wheel bike, knows the alphabet and numbers, and is learning to
play with other children, she said.
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