How Could You? Hall of Shame- Debra Johnson case-Child Death Updated

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Saginaw, Michigan, Foster Mother “Wendy S. Leeck, 44, is charged with involuntary manslaughter of Debra Johnson on Aug. 25 [2013]at Leeck’s home in Taymouth Township. The charge is a 15-year felony.”

” Prosecutors in Saginaw County are accusing a Birch Run-area woman of causing the death of her 2-year-old foster daughter, who had “developmental problems,” by feeding her “inappropriate food.””

“Leeck’s arrest warrant alleges that she killed Johnson by “providing inappropriate food without cutting the food up as required by (the Department of Human Services), knowing that (Johnson) was unable to eat such food without choking due to developmental problems.”

Authorities did not provide additional information pending Leeck’s preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors charged Leeck on Thursday, Nov. 14, and she turned herself in to authorities the next day. In arraigning Leeck that day, Saginaw County District Judge Kyle Higgs Tarrant entered a not guilty plea on her behalf and released her on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond.

Leeck remains free and is scheduled for a Nov. 27 preliminary hearing before Chief District Judge M. Randall Jurrens.”

Birch Run-area woman charged with involuntary manslaughter in death of 2-year-old foster daughter[MLive 11/21/13 by Andy Hoag]

“When a Birch Run-area foster mother began receiving additional state money last year for her care of two “developmentally delayed” young children, she assumed further obligations and risks, prosecutors say.

And that woman, Wendy S. Leeck, failed to meet those obligations, prosecutors say, when she fed her 2-year-old daughter a peanut butter sandwich the state alleges Leeck knew the child could not eat by herself.

The child subsequently choked to death, authorities said.

Leeck appeared with her defense attorney in a Saginaw County courtroom on Friday, Feb. 28. There, attorney James Gust told a judge that Leeck’s commitment to her daughter and other foster children makes it a “disgrace” that prosecutors have charged her with involuntary manslaughter.

But after an argument between and Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Barnes that at times was hotly contested and emotional, Saginaw County District Judge M. Randall Jurrens concluded Leeck’s preliminary hearing Friday by ruling that Barnes showed probable cause to take Leeck to trial in Circuit Court.

Leeck, 44, faces the manslaughter charge in connection with the Aug. 25, 2013, death of 29-month-old Debra Johnson at Leeck’s home in Taymouth Township. The charge, which means that “gross negligence” was involved, among other factors, carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Court officials have yet to set a trial date for Leeck, who remains free on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond.

‘Her mouth was packed’

In an interview with Saginaw County sheriff’s Detective Heather Dvorak the day after Johnson’s death, Leeck said that at about 6:30 p.m. she gave Johnson, as well the child’s fellow “developmentally delayed” 3-year-old brother, a “peanut butter sandwich” as a snack prior to dinner.

In the interview, played in court Friday, Leeck said she put peanut butter on a piece of bread, folded it in half, and gave it to Johnson. The children sat at the kitchen table and ate as Leeck put groceries away, she said.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, Leeck said, Johnson, who typically would continue putting food in her mouth without chewing or swallowing unless told to, began to choke. All of the sandwich that she gave Johnson was gone, she said.

“I saw her mouth was packed,” Leeck told Dvorak.

Leeck said she put her finger in her daughter’s mouth and got some of the food out but knew there was more. She yelled for help, and her older son, a young man, eventually came out from his room and called 911, she told the detective.

Leeck said she couldn’t see anything else in Johnson’s airway and began performing CPR on her daughter along with her husband’s friend until then-Saginaw County sheriff’s deputy Jennifer Garrison arrived and took over.

Garrison testified that when she arrived, Johnson was laying on a floor of the home “completely lifeless” with chunks of the sandwich on the outside of her mouth and on her shirt. Garrison took the child outside and continued CPR until medical personnel arrived, she said.

Garrison said that while she performed CPR, Leeck mostly stood quietly at her foster daughter’s feet. Garrison, now a Fenton police officer, testified she thought Leeck was the child’s babysitter because Leeck did not act how Garrison thought a mother would act in the situation.

Garrison said Leeck kept apologizing and saying, “I told her to chew.”

Leeck told Dvorak in the interview that Johnson was “functioning” as if she was between the ages of 9 and 12 months. She knew that Johnson had issues with eating because, as part of an assessment for determination of care completed by Burton-based Alternatives for Children and Families, she wrote a letter stating as much.

Obligations

Geneva Harvey, a supervisor at the foster and adoption agency, testified that Leeck wrote Johnson “just swallows everything” without chewing. Leeck wrote that Johnson will gag, vomit, and then try to eat the food that she vomited, Harvey testified.

The assessment determines how much additional care the child needs and, thus, how much additional money the foster parent should receive. The assessment was done based on conversations Leeck had with agency personnel, not necessarily because Leeck sought more money, Harvey said.

The assessment states that Johnson “must be closely supervised” when eating and that food must be cut into small pieces, Harvey testified.

On cross-examination from Gust, Harvey testified that most, if not all, of the information in the assessment came from Leeck.

It’s the fact that Leeck knew of her child’s issues and knew the steps she had to take to feed her child that shows her “gross negligence” in giving her the sandwich, argued Prosecutor Barnes.

“She didn’t meet that obligation,” Barnes said.

Gust delivered an argument that, at times, caused his voice to crack and, at one point, appeared to have him near tears.

“I think it’s very unfortunate that we’re here,” Gust said. “She took kids with special needs into her care.

“There’s no evidence of gross negligence,” he added.

Gust and Barnes argued briefly, but Jurrens interrupted and recessed the hearing to go back to his chambers. He met with the attorneys for approximately 10 minutes and then came back into the courtroom and announced his decision.

While the attorneys argued about where the table at which the kids sat was — it was in the kitchen, where Leeck was putting away the groceries — Jurrens noted that the language in Leeck’s warrant refers to the fact that she did not cut the food up before giving it to her daughter.

The judge also noted that the hearing only is intended for him to make a probable cause ruling and not whether a jury would convict Leeck beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The question becomes not whether or not I believe the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but whether or not a person of ordinary prudence and caution could conscientiously entertain a reasonable belief of the accused’s guilt,” Jurrens said, reading from court rules.

Jurrens said he made his decision to bind the case over to Circuit Court “with some reservation.”

My impression in listening to the recording was that the defendant is a person of good will, character, conscientious, caring,” the judge said. “We have a victim who, it seemed, had developmental problems that the defendant was aware of. Apparently, she was the source of the information to the state … but in any event, she was aware of those problems.

“This is a tragic case,” he added later. “Somebody died. I don’t sense that there was any intent for someone to die. I believe there was an intent to take care of the child that the state had placed with her.”

Following the judge’s decision, Gust railed against the county prosecutor’s office’s decision to charge Leeck in the first place.

“This is woman who is dedicated to children,” Gust said. “Who in the world would take this on? I think it’s a disgrace that someone of her character is charged with a felony that could send her to prison.”

County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd responded later by pointing out that Leeck had specific “certain duties that she did not perform” on the evening in question.

“Perhaps in other situations she has adhered to her duties,” Boyd said. “But the evidence has shown that there was reason to characterize this as gross negligence. This was not an accident.””

Manslaughter charge facing Birch Run foster mother in 2-year-old’s death ‘a disgrace,’ attorney says

[MLive 3/3/14 by Andy Hoag]

“A Birch Run-area foster mother charged with involuntary manslaughter in the choking death of her 2-year-old daughter will accept a plea agreement that may allow her to avoid any time behind bars.

Four months after a judge bound Wendy S. Leeck  over for trial “with some reservation,” Leeck appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge James T. Borchard on Tuesday, July 8, for her scheduled trial date.

Rather than proceed with a trial, Borchard remanded Leeck’s case back to District Court, where Leeck, 45, is expected to plead to a misdemeanor charge of attempted third-degree child abuse of her “developmentally disabled” 29-month-old daughter Debra Johnson.

Debra died Aug. 25 in Leeck’s Taymouth Township home after she choked on a peanut butter sandwich that prosecutors argued Leeck knew the child could not eat by herself.

Leeck’s attorney, James Gust, said the plea is a “tentative agreement” that is the “best resolution” for Leeck because the manslaughter charge carries a mandatory prison sentence.

“The troubling thing for me is I don’t think she did anything wrong,” Gust said. “But those dang (state) sentencing guidelines. If she’s convicted, which I don’t think she would be, but if she is, it’s a prison sentence.

“So that’s hanging over her head,” Gust said. “I believe we’re going to accept it, reluctantly, but only because there’s no sure things in life.”

Debra’s death was “something that could happen to anybody at any time to any parent or any foster parent,” Gust added.

County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd said Leeck’s case was “rather complicated.”

“There’s a lot of different considerations that went into that one,” he said. “After further investigation and extensive discussions, we feel the plea … is an appropriate result for all parties.”

“In the final analysis, we decided it was a very difficult situation for the caregiver based on all the circumstances that were ultimately revealed to us,” Boyd said. “It’s unfortunate that a death resulted, but we’re no longer convinced that it was on the basis of reckless behavior.”

The manslaughter charge means “gross negligence” was involved, among other factors, and carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. The misdemeanor to which Leeck is to plead carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

Prosecutors will not have a sentence recommendation, Boyd said.

“We’re going to let the judge fashion an appropriate sentence,” he said.

‘Completely lifeless’

In an interview with Saginaw County Sheriff’s Detective Heather Dvorak the day after Debra’s death, played during Leeck’s preliminary hearing before District Judge M. Randall Jurrens, Leeck said Debra was “functioning” as if she was between the ages of 9 and 12 months. She knew that Debra had issues with eating because, as part of an assessment for determination of care completed by Burton-based Alternatives for Children and Families, she wrote a letter stating as much.

Leeck said that at about 6:30 p.m. she gave Debra, as well the child’s fellow “developmentally delayed” 3-year-old brother, a “peanut butter sandwich” as a snack prior to dinner.

In the interview, Leeck said she put peanut butter on a piece of bread, folded it in half, and gave it to Debra. The children sat at the kitchen table and ate as Leeck put groceries away, she said.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, Leeck said, Debra, who typically would continue putting food in her mouth without chewing or swallowing unless told to, began to choke. All of the sandwich that she gave Debra was gone, she said.

Leeck said she put her finger in her daughter’s mouth and got some of the food out but knew there was more. She yelled for help, and her older son, a young man, eventually came out from his room and called 911, she told the detective.

Leeck said she couldn’t see anything else in Johnson’s airway and began performing CPR on her daughter along with her husband’s friend until then-Saginaw County sheriff’s deputy Jennifer Garrison arrived and took over.

Garrison testified at the hearing that when she arrived, Johnson was laying on a floor of the home “completely lifeless” with chunks of the sandwich on the outside of her mouth and on her shirt.

Following testimony in the hearing, Gust and county Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Barnes argued whether Jurrens should find probable cause existed for a trial on the manslaughter charge. Jurrens interrupted and recessed the hearing to go back to his chambers. He met with the attorneys for approximately 10 minutes and then came back into the courtroom and announced his decision.

Jurrens said he made his decision to bind the case over to Circuit Court “with some reservation.”

“My impression in listening to the recording was that the defendant is a person of good will, character, conscientious, caring,” the judge said. “We have a victim who, it seemed, had developmental problems that the defendant was aware of. Apparently, she was the source of the information to the state … but in any event, she was aware of those problems.

“This is a tragic case,” he added later. “Somebody died. I don’t sense that there was any intent for someone to die. I believe there was an intent to take care of the child that the state had placed with her.””

Birch Run foster mother to take plea deal in choking death of 2-year-old daughter [MLive 7/9/14 by Andy Hoag]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:”During the 11 months that Debra Johnson lived with her Birch Run-area foster mother, the toddler made “great progress” in learning how to eat and drink normally, the foster mother said Friday, Sept. 19.

But on Aug. 25 of last year, Debra choked to death eating a peanut butter sandwich, a snack she had eaten since the second day she was under the care of Wendy S. Leeck.

Leeck, 45, delivered a tearful statement Friday about the toddler, a developmentally disabled 29-month-old who died in Leeck’s Taymouth Township home.

The now-former foster mother spoke in Saginaw County District Judge M. Randall Jurrens’ courtroom, where the judge sentenced her for attempted third-degree child abuse, a charge to which Leeck pleaded no contest in August.

“My heart aches every day and every night for these kids,” said Leeck, referring to Debra and her two developmentally disabled siblings, one older and one younger, whom Leeck also was caring for.

“The pain of her loss never goes away,” she added. “I will never be able to help another child.”

Taking into account the “special person” that Leeck is for caring for such children and the accidental nature of Debra’s death, but also the fact that there was a “death of a child, however unanticipated,” Jurrens sentenced Leeck to three months on a tether and two years probation and ordered her to pay $700 in fines and costs and $720 in probation fees.

“All the good I have done is gone,” said Leeck, who was the foster mother for 18 children. “All of a sudden I became a monster.”

Prosecutors initially charged Leeck with involuntary manslaughter, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and carries a mandatory prison sentence. That factored greatly into Leeck pleading to the attempted child abuse charge, a misdemeanor that carries a one-year maximum jail sentence, said her attorney James Gust.

Gust said his advice to Leeck was to not go to trial and leave her fate up to a jury.

“Wendy Leeck is not a person that should go to prison,” he said. “I’ve won cases I shouldn’t have won, but on some occasions, I’ve lost some and I couldn’t understand why.”

Jurrens in February presided over Leeck’s preliminary hearing, intended for the judge to determine whether probable cause exists for trial, and ultimately bound her over for trial.

“I can recall being troubled by fitting those facts into that charge,” Jurrens said of the manslaughter count, which means “gross negligence” was involved.

Gust added there had never been an incident prior to Debra’s death in which she choked on food.

At Leeck’s preliminary hearing, county Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Janetsky argued that it’s the fact that Leeck knew of her child’s issues and knew the steps she had to take to feed her child that shows her “gross negligence” in giving her the sandwich.

“She didn’t meet that obligation,” Barnes said.

County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd, at the time the plea was offered, said Leeck’s case was “rather complicated.”

“In the final analysis, we decided it was a very difficult situation for the caregiver based on all the circumstances that were ultimately revealed to us,” Boyd said. “It’s unfortunate that a death resulted, but we’re no longer convinced that it was on the basis of reckless behavior.”

‘Who would have taken these children?’

Leeck on Friday started her statement by explaining the awful condition the children were in when Department of Human Services workers dropped them off at her home. The children looked younger than their ages and wore clothes much too big for them, she said. The youngest, just older than two months, looked like a newborn, she said.

Leeck, along with others, picked lice out of the hair of Debra and her older brother for a majority of two straight days, she said.

“It took me a whole week to get rid of it completely,” she said.

Debra and her older brother were terrified of taking a bath, Leeck said. When Leeck tried to put them in toddler beds when they first arrived, they screamed and tried to instead lay on the floor. Leeck would sleep on the floor with them, she said, and it took them three months to use a blanket.

Leeck explained that when she fed the children, they would drink their entire drink at once or shove as much food in their mouth as possible without taking bites.

“They were unsure the next food was going to be there,” she said.

Still, the children had made “great progress,” Leeck said. They had stopped eating from the trash or eating their own feces, and Debra had been eating peanut butter sandwiches since the second day she was living with Leeck.

In an interview with investigators, Leeck said she put peanut butter on a piece of bread, folded it in half, and gave it to Debra. The children sat at the kitchen table and ate as Leeck put groceries away, she said.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, Leeck said, Debra began to choke. All of the sandwich that she gave Debra was gone, she said.

Leeck said she put her finger in her daughter’s mouth and got some of the food out but knew there was more. She yelled for help, and her older son, a young man, eventually came out from his room and called 911, she said.

Leeck said she couldn’t see anything else in Johnson’s airway and began performing CPR on her daughter along with her husband’s friend until then-Saginaw County sheriff’s deputy Jennifer Garrison arrived and took over.

“I believe she just bit off too much that day” and tried to swallow the food without chewing it enough, Leeck said Friday.

“Who,” Gust asked, “would have taken these children? How many people in our community would even attempt to care for them? … It takes an extraordinary person to accept this responsibility.”

While Leeck has lost her foster parenting license, Jurrens ordered that a condition of her probation be that she cannot serve as a foster parent. In addition to losing her license, Leeck said she has been placed on a registry listing her as a neglectful parent.

“I cannot attend my own children’s field trips,” she said.

“I can only imagine the devastation that this caused her,” Gust added, noting media coverage of the case and the fact that Leeck lives in a small town. “It’s been an embarrassment. She has cried hours and hours and hours over this.”

Jurrens added the case is a “tragedy on many levels.”

“It takes a special person to stand in the gap and fill the role of a parent in this situation,” he said. “Particularly when the history of these children was so wanton. She performed in a way in which society would probably commend her.””[Oh please! ]

Birch Run foster mother gets tether, 2 years probation for choking death of 2-year-old daughter[MLive 9/17/14 by Andy Hoag]