KAYDEN BRANHAM - 20 Months (2009)/ Acquitted: Father; Bryan Daniels - Wayne County - KY

I'm putting this here in the murdered thread because IMO it may as well be murder by our whole pathetic society who failed this child. It should never have happened. That baby should have been taken into care and adopted when born. A 14 year old with no decent family to even raise her properly should NEVER have been allowed to keep that baby.
State did not do internal review of toddler's death

                                   

State social workers did not do a required internal review of the death of a 20-month-old Wayne County boy who drank drain cleaner in May 2009. State law requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to conduct such a review of any case where child abuse or neglect has resulted in a child fatality or near fatality and the cabinet had prior involvement with the child or family.The cabinet had been involved with the boy, Kayden Branham, and his 14-year-old mother, Alisha Branham, before his death. Both had been in foster care, family members said, and social workers were monitoring the well-being of both at the time of Kayden's death.
The cabinet substantiated that neglect was involved in the child's death, because Alisha Branham's parents had let her live at a trailer where people made methamphetamine, according to a report the cabinet released this week after being sued by the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Courier-Journal.The drain cleaner, which Kayden found in a cup at the trailer, can be used in making meth.A cabinet spokeswoman did not answer questions Wednesday about why cabinet employees did not perform the review.The internal review is important to help the cabinet identify any areas that need improvement in order to prevent other deaths, or any need for training for cabinet staff employees."The internal reviews assign responsibility to staff members and supervisors and administrators, said David Richart, executive director of the Louisville-based National Institute on Children, Youth and Families. "It shows where the system had broken down with respect to protecting children" Mark Stanziano, a Somerset attorney who represents Bryan Daniels, Kayden's father, in the criminal case that resulted from the toddler's death, said he saw no reason the cabinet could not have done the fatality review.District Judge Michael Lawson issued an order Sept. 1, 2009, barring anyone except mental-health professionals and Alisha Branham's defense attorneys from talking to her about Kayden's death.However, that was three months after the toddler died. The fatality review presumably could have been done before then, Stanziano said.A blank copy of the child-fatality review form provided to the Lexington Herald-Leader on Wednesday does not indicate that it would have been necessary to talk to Alisha Branham in order to do the internal review.Richart said the district-court order in Wayne County should not have precluded the cabinet from conducting the fatality review."The gag order does not restrain them at all from doing a fatality review and it makes me feel they are trying to hide something, they are trying to use the judge's order to hide something," said Richart.In addition, Circuit Judge Vernon Miniard issued an order Oct. 14, 2009, that barred enforcement of the lower-court gag order.That would have cleared the way for the review if in fact the lower-court order had been an impediment, Stanziano said.Stanziano, who has seen documents from the state's file on Kayden, said an independent review of the file would likely conclude that social workers didn't do enough to protect the child. There were indications of problems with the child's living situation before he died.Among other things, his grandmother, Melissa Branham, with whom Kayden and his mother were staying, failed several times to show up for drug tests requested by social workers, Stanziano said.Despite that, Kayden and his mother continued living with Melissa Branham until moving to a trailer owned by Alisha Branham's father, Larry Branham, who was divorced from her mother."They left the child at risk," Stanziano said of caseworkers.Alisha Branham later said she moved to her father's trailer about a month before Kayden died because there was no food, water or electricity where she'd been staying with her mother.The cabinet also is required to compile a summary of the investigation, including information from other agencies that may have been involved in the case.The Herald-Leader sued to get access to the state's files on Kayden Branham, who also was known as Kayden Daniels, and his mother.Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled the newspapers were entitled to see the records.So far, the cabinet has turned over only a 13-page report produced after the toddler's death. That was not the internal review.On Tuesday, Shepherd ordered the cabinet to provide him with its files on Kayden and Alisha Branham — and to give the newspapers an index of those records — so that a decision can be made on what records the agency will have to release.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/12/08/1558403/state-did-not-do-internal-review.html#ixzz17ZruFWDh

FRANKFORT. (AP) - The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has released some details about the life of a toddler who died from drinking drain cleaner.

Twenty-month-old Kayden Branham and his 14-year-old mother were living in a Wayne County trailer where methamphetamine was made because the place they had been staying didn't have food, water or electricity, according to a state file obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal.

The cabinet released the redacted records on Monday to the newspapers, which sought information about the cabinet's contact with the mother and her son before his death on May 30, 2009.

A circuit judge had said in a previous ruling that the boy and his mother had been placed under the supervision of the state system for abused and neglected children.

The mother's name was released in the court records, but it is AP policy not to name juveniles charged with crimes.

Both newspapers argued Tuesday before Franklin Circuit Court Phillip Shepherd that more details should be released and he ordered the Cabinet to turn all documents related to the case over to his office by Wednesday morning. Shepherd will decide what documents will be made public.

According to the information released, the mother took the child to stay at the Wayne County trailer because she wanted "to do better by my baby by being able to give him a bath and cold milk."

Although her previous address was redacted, the girl's grandmother, Linda Anderson, said that they had previously lived with the girl's mother.

Anderson told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the teen had asked a caseworker to place her and her son at a different location. She said the young mother took the boy to the trailer in Wayne County because she had no other place to go.

The state report says the teen had an "extensive involvement" with the cabinet. It did not give details, but said the family history included risk factors of poverty, chaotic living situations, domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health problems. The report said the teen didn't have real parental guidance and followed her own rules.

The file says the mother knew people made meth at the trailer, but she tried to clean up afterward to keep her son from being exposed. "I knowed Kayden shouldn't be around meth," she said. "That's why we always took him to stay with somebody else when they cooked."

Branham said she didn't see a coffee cup containing Liquid Fire sitting on a table. When her son drank from the cup, Branham said she heard him say "uh" and heard the cup hit the floor. "He was holding his mouth and his lips was swelling."

She said she and the child's father, 19-year-old Bryan Daniels, rushed him to the hospital, but he only got worse.

Hospital records say the child died from chemical burns and poisoning.

Five people, including the teen mother and Daniels, were charged with offenses stemming from the toddler's death. All the adults have pleaded not guilty. The mother's case is confidential because it was handled in juvenile court.
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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com
Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

Mistrial declared in Wayne murder case involving toddler who drank drain cleaner

Published: June 20, 2012
By Beth Musgrave — bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the trial of a Wayne County man charged with murder in the death of his 20-month-old toddler.

Circuit Judge Vernon Miniard Jr. declared the mistrial after a jury could not be seated in Russell County. More than 70 potential jurors were called for the trial of Bryan Daniels, 21, who was charged after his son, Kayden Branham Daniels, drank drain cleaner that allegedly had been used to make methamphetamine in May 2009.

The trial had been moved from Wayne County to Russell County because of concerns about pretrial publicity.

Mark Stanziano, Daniels' lawyer, said too many potential jurors had heard about the case or formed opinions. Some jurors could not serve during the entire two-week trial, he said.

Miniard has set a hearing for July 2 to discuss a change of venue and another trial date.

Stanziano said it's possible the case will be moved to Warren County, where residents of Bowling Green and other parts of the county are not as likely to have heard details about the widely publicized case.

Daniels remains in jail.

He was charged with murder after he and his girlfriend, Alisha Branham, 14, brought their son home to a trailer that other people had used earlier in the day to cook methamphetamine.

Daniels and Branham had taken Kayden to relatives' homes during the day, according to court documents. When they returned, Kayden asked for a drink. While his mother looked for Kayden's pajamas and Daniels went to the kitchen to get juice, Kayden drank from a mug that contained liquid drain cleaner. He later died.

Kayden and Alisha Branham had been removed from their home by state social workers and placed in foster care, but they were later returned to Alisha Branham's mother. They were under the state's supervision at the time of Kayden's death.

The case has been highlighted by those who are pushing for legislation to limit the amount of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine that people may buy.

Daniels has pleaded not guilty. Stanziano said his client did nothing wrong.

"He is not guilty of any crime," Stanziano said. "He did not make methamphetamine. He did not help anybody make methamphetamine. He took the child out of the home and he had no say over what happened in that home."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/06/20/2231615/mistrial-declared-in-wayne-murder.html#storylink=cpy

Daniels found not guilty of murder

January 15, 2013
By: Melodie Phelps, News Editor

After deliberating for approximately eight hours on Friday, January  11, a Warren County jury acquitted Bryan Daniels, of Monticello, of  murder, first degree substance endangerment to a child and engaging  in organized crime.

The not guilty verdicts came after a week-long trial, held in Warren  Circuit Court.

The charges against Daniels stemmed from the May 2009 death of his  20-month-old son Kayden Branham, who officials said drank drain  cleaner that was used to make methamphetamine.

The trial was moved to Russell County first, because attorneys were  concerned about the ability to seat a jury locally.

Last June, a mistrial was declared in Russell County, after the  effort to seat a jury there failed. At that point, the case was moved  to Warren County.

Daniels, who has spent the last 44 months in custody, hugged family  members and his defense team after Wayne Circuit Judge Vernon  Miniard, Jr. read the verdict.

"I'm very happy, I've been waiting for this for almost four years,"  Daniels told the Bowling Green Daily News following the trial. "I'm  ready to straighten my life out and be a better person."

Daniels told the Bowling Green newspaper that he had not been allowed to attend Kayden's funeral or to visit his grave. He said  that was the first thing he planned to do.

"He knew I wouldn't do anything to hurt him," Daniels said of his  son, as he talked to the newspaper.

Jury selection in Daniels' trial began on Monday and by the end of  the day the 12-person jury had been seated.

Opening arguments in the case were heard on Tuesday, as was  testimony by Kayden's mother, Alisha Branham.

In his opening argument, Mark Stanziano, representing Daniels, said  that the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services failed to  properly protect Kayden and his mother, who was only 14-years-old  then. He said there were concerns about Alisha's mother, Melissa  Branham, using drugs, yet she failed to show up 40 times when state social workers called to request that she take a drug test.

He said she took four tests, passing one and failing one. The other  two samples were diluted, according to Stanziano. Alisha Branham and  her son were supposed to live with Melissa Branham, according to  statements made last week. But Alisha testified that the electricity  and water had been turned off at her mother's home, so she and Kayden were living in a trailer that her father, Larry Branham, rented so  she could keep milk for Kayden and take care of him.

On the day that Kayden died, people made meth in that trailer,  according to Commonwealth Attorney Matthew Leveridge in his opening  statement to the jury. Leveridge said that Danny Anderson II,  Alisha Branham's uncle, admitted that he put Liquid Fire in a coffee cup while making meth at the trailer.

During her testimony on Tuesday, Alisha Branham described the death  of her son. She told the jury that she and Daniels took Kayden away from the trailer when others used it to make meth. That was what the couple did on May 30, 2009, according to her testimony.

At some point that day, Alisha Branham said that she and Daniels went back to the trailer and saw that the meth making had concluded.  She said there was finished meth on a plate in the bedroom. She  testified that she and Daniels used meth that day.

Alisha Branham and Daniels left the trailer again, taking Kayden to  stay with a relative. She said she made an effort to clean up the  trailer before they picked up Kayden and brought him back around 10  or 10:30 p.m.

She testified that Kayden grabbed the coffee cup, which was setting  on a table in their bedroom. Daniels took it away from him but put it  where Kayden could still reach it, according to Branham's testimony.

She told the jury she put on a movie for Kayden to watch, while  Daniels went to the kitchen to get the boy some juice to drink. She  was putting on a nightshirt when she saw Kayden with the cup. Alisha  Branham said he had already taken a drink.

"He grabbed his tongue as if he'd drank something hot," Branham said.

Alisha Branham ran to the kitchen sink and tried to get the boy to  drink cold water, but he was having trouble breathing and seemed  afraid to drink, she testified.

She, Daniels and her father then rushed Kayden to the hospital,  where the boy died a short time later.

Wednesday, officers who investigated the boy's death provided  testimony regarding interviews they conducted with Daniels. Daniels  told police that he thought the liquid in the coffee cup was juice.  He stated that if he had known it contained poison, he would have poured it out.

Prosecutors finished with their case on Thursday, and Stanziano  asked that Circuit Judge Vernon Miniard, Jr. dismiss the charge of  making methamphetamine against Daniels. Miniard agreed to dismiss the  charge.

Alisha Dicken, 24, who was also a defendant early on in the case,  was on the stand Thursday, as the defense presented its case. Dicken  was first charged with murder and other meth-related charges, but  entered a plea deal to reduced charges. She was sentenced to 10 years  in jail, probated for five years and placed in pretrial diversion.

Dicken said on the stand that she was a recovering meth addict, but  had not used meth in 14 months. She said she saw Anderson II make  meth in the trailer on the day that Kayden died. She said Anderson  was in the bedroom of the mobile home and he used a 2-liter bottle  with the chemicals needed to make meth.

Also on the stand on Thursday was Ashley Dobbs, a state social  worker who was assigned to monitor Melissa Branham's custody of  Alisha Branham and Kayden. Stanziano alleged during his opening  statement that the state failed to adequately protect the two minors.

Dobbs testified that she visited Branham's home in Monticello 10  days before Kayden died. She said the boy was there, but Alisha  

Branham was not. Dobbs said  Melissa Branham had acknowledged she had no electricity, but said she had been staying at night with a relative and giving Kayden baths there. Dobbs said Melissa Branham  told her she had made arrangements to move to another residence with  electricity.

Dobbs stated that if she had received a report that Alisha Branham  and Kayden were living in an inappropriate place, she would have  asked a judge to move them.

Stanziano rested the defense's case on Thursday.

After closing statements on Friday, the case went to the jury.

Daniels is the first of four defendants to be tried in connection  with Kayden's death.  Also charged with murder are James Hunt and  Danny Ray Anderson II. The two men are also charged with  manufacturing methamphetamine, controlled substance endangerment to a  child and engaging in organized crime.

Larry Branham, the boy's grandfather, is charged with controlled  substance endangerment to a child, complicity to manufacture  methamphetamine and engaging in organized crime.

http://wcoutlook.com/local/x503822744/Daniels-found-not-guilty-of-murder/print

BS verdict.