SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Manslaughter charges have been dropped against a 12-year-old girl who was charged two years ago in connection with the death of a 3-month-old infant girl, according to Assistant Attorney General William Stokes.
During a hearing Wednesday at Skowhegan District Court, Judge Charles LaVerdierre accepted a plea deal that results in the manslaughter charges being dropped in exchange for lesser charges. Stokes said he is barred from releasing details of the charges or penalties under the juvenile criminal code.
“It went as expected,” said Stokes, who leads the criminal investigative division of the attorney general’s office, about the plea agreement. Details of the agreement were released last week.
“Is it perfect? No, it’s not perfect. Nothing is perfect, but it’s the best we could do under the circumstances,” Stokes added later.
The Fairfield girl, whom the Bangor Daily News is not naming because she is a juvenile, was 10 years old when she was charged with reckless or criminally negligent manslaughter in the death of Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway on July 8, 2012.
“From day one, a manslaughter [charge] was kind of like ‘wow’ for a 10-year-old,” said John Martin of Skowhegan, the girl’s attorney. “That’s alarming.”
He said the plea agreement is a resolution that will address the issues of his young client.
The girl — the youngest in the state to face a manslaughter charge in recent history — will be subject to long-term supervision and counseling in exchange for dismissal of the felony charge, Stokes said.
“There are a whole [bunch] of conditions that will extend for a number of years, at least until she becomes an adult, and possibly until she is 21,” he said. “The purpose of these is so she has the best opportunity for rehabilitation.”
“The whole purpose of the juvenile court is not prosecution,” Stokes said. “The focus is not to penalize. Its focus is on rehabilitating the juvenile and to provide them with services, supervisions and treatment options so that the juvenile can work on his or her issues to become a law-abiding and productive member of society.”
Brooklyn’s mother, Nicole Foss-Greenaway of Clinton, said last week she was upset with the plea agreement. She spoke passionately in court during the closed-door portion of the session.
“I think it’s fair to say she understands why the resolution is really the best we can achieve,” Stokes said. “Is she happy? Of course not. She lost a baby.”
Her child was in the care of the girl’s mother in Fairfield the night she died, but the infant was left alone with the then-10-year-old girl.
“Although we may never know the complete story of what happened that night, we know that a 10-year-old child was allowed to care for an infant, without adequate supervision,” Martin and co-council Edwin Chester said in a joint statement. “We know that at least some adults who were responsible for her care knew she was particularly unsuited to be given this complicated responsibility. We know that, tragically, one child died, and the other will suffer the effects of that trauma for the rest of her life.
“Like most, we’re disappointed that the only one to be held responsible for this tragedy was a 10-year-old child,” the Martin-Chester statement said.
Greenaway declined a request for an interview Wednesday.
A toxicology report revealed medicine for attention deficit disorder was found in Brooklyn’s system — the same medication prescribed to the accused girl, Greenaway said in August 2012.
There also were bruises on the baby’s face from when she was suffocated, allegedly by the girl, according to Greenaway.
“It looks like someone had beat her up,” Greenaway said shortly after her child’s death. “Fingerprint bruises all over her face. A black eye. Bruises across the bridge of her nose.”
The baby’s death was declared a homicide Aug. 29, 2012, and the girl was charged with manslaughter the next day. On Sept. 19, 2012, the attorney general’s office filed a juvenile petition formally charging the girl with manslaughter.
The girl made her initial appearance in Skowhegan District Court on Oct. 22, 2012, and was deemed not competent to stand trial for the felony charge in March 2013.
While Martin said the outcome of the plea agreement provides his client with the services she needs, “the difficulty was the length of time it took to get to where we are now.”
Nearly two years of deliberations is too long, he said.
“This case should serve as a lesson to us all that prosecution of a 10-year-old through the juvenile justice process is a particularly ineffective means of addressing the complex issues raised by a traumatic event; it serves neither the interests of the juvenile nor the broader interest in community safety, which is best served when a child is able to engage in meaningful treatment and rehabilitation rather than remain in limbo,” the Martin-Chester statement said.
Stokes also commented on the length of time it took to determine if the girl was competent to stand trial, but he said the final outcome is what matters.
“We can put a plan in place, and now it’s up to her to take advantage of that, and give herself the best likelihood of success,” Stokes said.