Thursday 19 May 2011

SBS: Indiana: Tiquila Turner charged

May 15, 2011
The baby boy was 7 months old when he suffered a fractured skull and 30 hemorrhages -- in each eye.
Now 2, little Keron is blind, deaf and eats and drinks through a feeding tube.
Keron "will generally in the future have trouble speaking and being understood," doctors wrote in Department of Children's Services case records.
The child's mother, Tiquila Turner, faces Class B felony neglect charges that could put her behind bars for six to 20 years.
Turner, 26, of South Bend, declined to comment on the charges.
Prosecutors charged that Turner "did knowingly place (Keron) ... in a situation endangering his life or health: by shaking (Keron) and by failing to get (Keron) medical care after he had been dropped."
Doctors diagnosed Keron with Shaken Infant Syndrome and strongly suggested that the little boy may be permanently brain-damaged as a result of severe physical abuse.
Because the case is pending, St. Joseph County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ken Cotter is ethically precluded from discussing Turner's charges.
"Keron has very specific medical needs that need to be attended to and therapy that needs to continue," the DCS recommended. "He had made very slight improvements but will probably need extended medical care due to the severe abuse that he has suffered."
Turner's attorney, Jeffrey Sanford, did not return multiple phone calls left at his South Bend office over the course of one week seeking comment on the charges.
Keron's father says his son is "broken."
"I'm not sure how much he can see. I'm not sure how much he can hear," Camerin Jones said. "Basically he's brain dead.
"He's a broken baby."
Jones compares his son's case to the case of Natalia Benson, the little girl who was violently abused and shaken by her mother when she was 3 months old.
Natalia was legally blind, unaware of who she was or where she was, attached to a feeding tube as a result of injuries that ravaged her nervous system until she died March 25 at a Carmel, Ind., hospital at the age of 5.
Her mother, Barbara Schrock, was found guilty at trial in 2009 of felony battery and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
"At trial, there was no question that Barbara Schrock was the individual who had caused all of the injuries (to Natalia)," said Ken Cotter, who prosecuted the case.
"Based on the timeline of injuries," the chief deputy prosecutor added, "it couldn't have been anybody else, including the father, because the father worked 16-hour days."
Hamilton County Coroner Thurl Cecil has since ruled Natalia's death a homicide. Prosecutors are weighing potential murder charges against Schrock that could keep her in prison for the rest of her life.
Keron was 9 months old when he was hospitalized on June 22, 2009, with what appeared to be a severe head injury, according to court documents.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/sbt-20110515sbtmarsa-01-02-20110515,0,312451.story

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