Preliminary exam begins for Sturgis couple accused of abusing 8-month-old
CENTREVILLE — Preliminary exams for a Sturgis couple accused of abusing an 8-month-old child will continue Oct. 4 in St. Joseph District Court.
Amanda Nicole Wood, 33, and her boyfriend Jason Haskin, 39, are charged with first-degree child abuse of Wood's 8-month-old son, who was put on life support in intensive care after he and his 3-year-old brother were found unattended Aug. 8 in a Sturgis apartment.
Both are represented by public defenders.
More:Couple charged in abuse of 8-month-old baby
Child abuse in the first degree is a felony punishable by up to a life term in prison.
Chief assistant prosecutor Jason Robare plans to interview Dr. Sarah Brown, a child abuse expert affiliated with Bronson Children's Hospital in Kalamazoo, to establish probable cause. A preliminary exam is a court hearing conducted to determine whether enough evidence exists to send a case to trial.
Judge Jeff Middleton is presiding over the case.
Maintenance workers entered a Village Manor two-story townhouse apartment in northeast Sturgis in the late afternoon Aug. 8 and found two children left alone. Sturgis police Sgt. Aaron Moore testified Wood answered the door, explaining she said she went to a neighbor's residence for 10 minutes to use a phone.
The 19-year veteran of the department said the 3-year-old was running nude around the apartment. The baby was sitting on the couch.
"I was immediately concerned because his color did not look good. His skin tone had a very yellow color to it," Moore said.
Moore noted "the child was very lethargic and did not seem to be responding." As he approached the baby, "I became concerned because I heard a randomly, rascally sound from the child. I initially asked Amanda if the baby had a trach, tracheotomy, or a stroke because the breathing was so rattling and rocking. And she told me that he did not."
The officer became more concerned.
"It was like he was struggling to gain breath. And it's not a good sign."
Moore noticed a large bruise on the center of his forehead and a small one on his jaw. There was an open infected wound on his neck. Abrasions showed on his chest and stomach. Moore showed pictures he took of the child.
"I also noticed that the child was sitting in his diaper. His diaper was overflowing with his own feces," which was all over the couch cushion.
Asked about the injuries, Wood said the older brother may have caused the bruises. Wood said she noticed the cut the day before and that the breathing difficulties started that morning.
Moore asked her about seeking medical attention for the baby.
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"She said it had crossed her mind, but she never did call a doctor or 911."
With the arrival of medics to treat the baby, Wood could not find a clean diaper for him.
Wood said Haskins left hours before police arrived. She said he and the two boys were the only residents of the apartment. Her methadone prescription ran out a couple of weeks before, but she had used suboxone that morning, she told Moore.
Sturgis investigator Bryan Stuck talked to Wood on Aug. 17. She did not explain the neck injury.
"She stated that, at one point, Jason had to treat the wound because it started to get so severe that she couldn't handle looking or dealing with the injury," Stuck said.
Stuck said Wood has no explanation about what happened to the infant. Wood also told police she suffered from seizures and blackouts.
Asked about drug use, "she mentioned that she was smoking methamphetamine. And one particular time she mentioned that she did shoot up in her arm with a syringe," the investigator testified.
Police reports indicated the baby tested positive for meth during his treatment. Transferred to the Bronson Hospital Pediatric intensive care, doctors determined the baby had fractures of both left and right tibia, a left femur fracture, and a broken left tibia. Signs of other bone fractures were present, medical reports stated.
The neck infection was the superbug Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - MRSA - a type of staph bacteria that becomes resistant to most antibiotic treatment.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Amanda Wood, Jason Haskin accused of abusing a 8-month-old child
