WARREN - Prosecutors intend to fight a judicial release sought by a 32-year-old Warren woman who has served one of three years on a prison term for what an expert described as deliberately burning a neighbor's child.
Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge John M. Stuard has scheduled a hearing on the request by Amanda Hall for Thursday morning, and the judge has signed a warrant to allow Hall to be brought here from the Ohio Reformatory for Woman in Marysville to attend the hearing.
Assistant county prosecutor Diane Barber, who tried the case last fall, and LuWayne Annos, chief appellate assistant in the office, say they expect major arguments since Stuard opted against denying Hall's motion without any hearing.
They said Warren Detective Michael Currington, who was the lead investigator in the case, also plans to attend the hearing and oppose Hall's release.
The woman is asking to be released before the Christmas holiday and asks to be placed on probation, pointing out in a motion that she was eligible for release in June.
Hall - a mother of four - told Currington in a video statement that on Oct. 14, 2010, she had given Teiarra Houseman, 1, a bath and briefly left the bathroom, leaving her 12-year-old daughter to watch the child after the bath water was drained from the tub.
The daughter also left the bathroom before both said they heard screams and then returned to pull Teiarra from the tub of hot water, where she was apparently washing her doll.
Hall's daughter backed up the story given by her mother even though Barber brought out the fact in cross-examination that within a day or two after the incident, the daughter blamed her mother, saying she was out to punish the child for continuously crying.
Initially the daughter told Currington she watched through a hole in the bathroom wall as her mother deliberately burned the girl who lived across the street on Northfield Avenue N.W.
Now age 3, Teiarra must wait at least another year before playing outside in the sun or snow since her left arm and hand are still healing from the second-degree burns.
An Akron physician serving as a child abuse expert told Stuard, who heard the case in place of a jury, that it only took seconds to burn the child's skin in the 157-degree water. The doctor showed photos of a distinct line on the girl's forearm separating the burned from the unburned skin, discounting any accidental spill or splash on the part of the victim.
The doctor also pointed out ''grab marks'' on the girl's arm above the burn.
Barber and Annos also point out in their motion opposing release that Hall was only sentenced to three years on the second-degree felony of child endangering and could have faced up to eight years total.