Jan 17, 2006 10:05 pm US/Eastern
SJC: Westfield Girl Can Be Taken Off Life Support
SPRINGFIELD (AP) ―
The state's highest court ruled Tuesday that the state can remove an 11-year-old girl from life support after she was badly beaten, allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather.
Haleigh Poutre, of Westfield, was hospitalized in September after she was allegedly kicked and beaten nearly to death with a baseball bat.
The girl's stepfather, Jason Strickland, asked the Supreme Judicial Court last month to block the state from taking her off life support. If she dies, he could face a murder charge for taking part in the beating that left her comatose.
The adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, who was also Haleigh's aunt, was also charged in the beating. She was found dead alongside her grandmother in a possible murder-suicide less than two weeks later.
Jason Strickland is free on bail while awaiting trial on assault charges.
"Obviously we're deeply disappointed," said his lawyer, John Egan. "They decided the case on the most narrow grounds possible."
The state Department of Social Services has custody of the girl and wants to remove her from life support, citing opinions from her doctors that the girl is in a permanent vegetative state.
A juvenile court judge granted the state's request to disconnect Haleigh's feeding tube and ventilator, prompting Jason Strickland to appeal to the SJC.
"The petitioner has proffered no evidence that would allow a conclusion that his participation in (Haleigh's) life was of a loving or nurturing nature," the high court said in its ruling, "or even that it was beneficial to the child."
Haleigh's biological mother Allison Avrett, said Tuesday: "I'm in complete shock at this point. My mind is running with things."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Servies had no immediate comment.
Hampden District Attorney William Bennett, who is prosecuting Strickland for beating Haleigh, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Haleigh was adopted by her aunt about five years ago after Avrett moved to Virginia with a new boyfriend. Jason Strickland, who never formally adopted the girl, argued that as the stepfather, he should be considered a de facto parent and allowed to have a say in whether she lives or dies.
Egan insisted his client isn't motivated by the chance he could be charged with murder if the girl dies. "We should be coming down on the side of life as opposed to death," he told the justices during last month's hearing.
The SJC said in its ruling that it was impossible to consider Strickland's intentions without also taking into account the criminal charges he might face if she dies.
"To recognize the petitioner as a de facto parent, in order that he may participate in a medical end-of-life decision for the child, is unthinkable in the circumstances of this case," the SJC said.
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