Mom charged in toddler's death can contact children
Apr. 9—BRENTWOOD — Shawna Cote, one of three people arrested for the overdose death of a toddler at a Londonderry truck stop last year, was given permission by a judge Friday to call her surviving children and receive drug treatment while incarcerated.
Cote, 29, of Tilton, is currently held in the Carroll County House of Corrections while she awaits trial for negligent homicide, a special charge of manslaughter, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, falsifying physical evidence, endangering her children, and other criminal allegations, according to police records.
Cote was arrested in February, several months after police responded to RMZ truck stop for a 911 call reporting a toddler — Cote's daughter — in cardiac arrest. Investigators later discovered the 21-month-old ingested suspected heroin or fentanyl in the cab of a pickup truck while her parents and one of their friends slept feet away. The girl's older sister, now 5, was also in the truck.
Cote and co-defendant Mark Geremia have a younger son together, as well. According to comments made in court, he was born with signs of heroin addiction. His age was not made clear for the public.
Police said the couple's older girl was physically unharmed by the drugs, but nurses at Parkland Medical Center who examined her and attempted to save her sister said both were uncared for, malnourished and dirty.
In court Friday morning, Defense Attorney Joseph Welch requested that Cote be transferred to an inpatient drug treatment facility and that she be able to have contact with her children before trial.
Welch said his client is one of "less than 10 women" at the Carroll County House of Corrections, where treatment options are "extremely limited" and reserved for sentenced inmates.
Judge Marguerite Wageling denied this request, but did say she would advise the House of Corrections to provide whatever services are available.
Cote and her attorney have twice told judges about her admission to a six-month program at Hope on Haven Hill in Rochester just prior to her arrest.
"We're not asking for some general (personal recognizance) bail, but bail based on going into treatment," Welch said. "If she were to leave that program or be discharged, bail would convert back to preventative detention."
Prosecutor Melissa Fales argued that Cote could leave the program on her own accord at any time and run before the court is notified. In agreeing, the judge made the provision that Cote may receive treatment, even though she is not a sentenced inmate.
Regarding contact with her children, Cote's attorney successfully argued, "she should be able to send her daughter a birthday card," and the like. Prior bail conditions prevented contact with any children, including her own.
According to Fales, Cote's 5-year-old will not be called to court as a witness, so there is no threat of witness tampering. Her son is too young, the attorney explained.
The children are currently in the custody of family members and the state Division for Children, Youth & Families.
In addition to those bail alterations, the judge prohibited Cote from any type of contact with Geremia and Dana Dolan, another defendant in the case. Both are also held in preventive detention pending trial.
