TaJanay’s mother may avoid murder charge
Prosecutors have focused the blame in TaJanay Bailey’s death on her mother’s live-in boyfriend, signaling that her mother may dodge a murder charge.
But Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said Wednesday that any plea agreement reached with Charity Bailey would hold her accountable and could leave her facing decades in prison. He announced plans to seek a life sentence without the possibility of parole only for Lawrence Green, whose murder case likely is headed for trial.
“We determined that Mr. Green was more culpable in terms of physical abuse,” Brizzi said, with some instances going back 18 months.
Bailey, 20, and Green, 21, were each charged with murder and neglect after 3-year-old TaJanay’s Nov. 27 death, a horrific killing that sparked an internal review by the state Department of Child Services.
The prosecutor’s life sentence request for Green cites two aggravating circumstances: that Green tortured TaJanay before her death, and that the girl was younger than 12.
Brizzi said Green repeatedly whipped TaJanay, hung her by her T-shirt on a coat hook, causing injury, and punched her in the chest.
If a jury convicts Green of murder, it then would consider a life sentence.
The Department of Child Services returned TaJanay and her infant half brother home for a trial visit less than one month before the girl’s death. DCS had removed TaJanay from Bailey’s care in May 2006 on suspicions of abuse and neglect.
Brizzi initially said he would seek life sentences for both Bailey and Green. But Bailey has been cooperative and gave an expanded statement, Brizzi said.
No plea deal has been signed, but Brizzi said he anticipated allowing Bailey to plead guilty to felony neglect instead of murder in exchange for her testimony. Class A felony neglect carries a potential penalty of 20 to 50 years in prison.
“We are in plea negotiations,” said Ray Casanova, Bailey’s public defender.
Mark Inman, one of Green’s attorneys, declined to comment Wednesday. His other attorney, Carolyn Rader, did not return a phone message.
Brizzi said Bailey, who is about seven months pregnant, was the only eyewitness to TaJanay’s final days.
“We want to make sure the person responsible for putting hands on that baby will never see the light of day,” he said.
A DCS review has cited failed communication, lingering domestic violence issues in the home and a lack of urgency among everyone handling TaJanay’s case. Officials said all of those amounted to errors in judgment.
Brizzi said Wednesday that prosecutors are still looking at the way DCS handled the case but so far had found no evidence of criminal violations by workers.