Mother's trial in death of daughter starts

Mother's trial in death of daughter starts

June 28, 2010

Woman charged with failing to protect 4-year-old Emma from harm

The trial of a mother accused of failing to protect her 4-year-old daughter, who was sexually abused and beaten to death, gets under way today with opening statements from attorneys.


Abigail Young was in court Monday as a jury of nine women and three men was selected for her trial.

Abigail "Abbey" Young, a 34-year-old registered nurse, is accused of serious bodily injury by omission for failing to protect her daughter, Emma Thompson.

That means Harris County prosecutors must prove Young intentionally or knowingly failed to provide any one of the following: medical attention care, protection or adult supervision.

If convicted, Young faces up to life in prison.

A jury of nine women and three men were selected late Monday, along with two alternates. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

"We feel like we have a fair jury and we hope that justice will be served," said Tina Ansari, assistant Harris County district attorney.

Defense attorney Colin Amann said he was pleased with the jury selection process.

Emma's death on June 27, 2009, in Spring was one of three child abuse deaths in Harris County that prompted Texas Child Protective Services to review their investigative procedures.

All three children were known to CPS shortly before their deaths.

In Emma's case, CPS had been contacted three weeks before her death by her pediatrician after the preschooler had tested positive for genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease.

However, because there were no signs of sexual intercourse and there are rare cases where the disease is transmitted by nonsexual contact, Emma was not removed from her home.

The CPS investigator questioned only Young, who denied that there were any other adults living in the house — even though her boyfriend at the time was a frequent house guest.

If Young had disclosed she was dating Lucas Coe, who faces an unrelated child abuse charge in another county, Emma would have been taken into state custody.

Coe has been charged with Emma's rape and will be tried later this year.

On the day Emma died, Young told neighbors that her daughter had cracked her skull after slipping off the toilet in the bathroom.

Instead of immediately calling 911, Young began driving Emma to the hospital. She called 911 from the car after Emma passed out. She was dead by the time she arrived at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital.

An autopsy revealed Emma had at least 80 bruises, a fractured skull and a severed pancreas.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7085180.html

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/100629-prosecutors-4-yr-old-raped-and-killed

http://abcnews.go.com/US/jury-selection-trial-mother-accused-protecting-daughter/story?id=11035197

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7527465

Was Silence Deadly for Young Girl?

Monday, 12 Jul 2010

Abigail Young could be looking at some serious time behind bars, just for keeping her mouth shut.

Harris County prosecutors say that Young failed to do what any mother would instinctively do and that is protect her baby girl as she was dying in June 2009.

Investigators say 4-year-old Emma Thompson was allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted by Young's boyfriend Lucas Coe. Prosecutors also say Coe gave the child herpes.

The young girl died as a result of sustaining a lengthy list of injuries allegedly at the hands of Coe.

Young is being charged with bodily injury to a child by omission. In other words, Young did not to protect her daughter from her boyfriend.

Defense attorneys representing Young says that their client did nothing wrong. Julie Kitterman also says that there is no conclusive proof that her client's daughter was sexually assaulted and contracted herpes from Coe.

A Harris County jury is deliberating and will soon render a verdict against Young. Coe's trial in this case will get underway during the late summer.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/100712-abigail-young-trial

Closing Arguments Under Way In Trial Of Emma Thompson's Mom

Jul 12, 2010

HOUSTON - Closing arguments were under way Monday in the trial of a Houston-area nurse accused in the death of her daughter.

Prosecutors say Abigail Young, of Spring, failed to prevent the death of 4-year-old Emma Thompson, who died last year after suffering a severed pancreas and fractured skull.

Young’s boyfriend at the time, Lucas Coe, is accused of raping Emma. Investigators said she had genital herpes when she died.

Texas Child Protective Services revamped its investigations into alleged sexual abuse after the girl’s death.

If convicted of injury to a child by omission, Young could face up to life in prison.

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/98261129.html

Mom guilty of recklessly causing daughter's fatal injuries

July 12, 2010


Emma Thompson, 4, was found to have 80 bruises and a fractured skull


GUILTY: Abigail Young, Emma Thompson's mother

A Harris County jury today returned a guilty verdict against the mother of a 4-year-old girl who died after prosecutors say the woman stood by while her boyfriend beat and raped the child.

Jurors deliberated about four hours before finding Abigail Young guilty of injury to a child by recklessness, resulting in serious bodily injury, in the death of Emma Thompson last summer. The same jury will return to court Tuesday to begin considering a punishment for Young, which could range from probation to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors had asked the jury to convict Young of a more serious first-degree felony, which would have made her eligible for a life sentence.

Young burst into tears this afternoon as the verdict was read.

Her lawyers rested their case this morning without calling Young to testify.

"Didn't need to," attorney Julie Ketterman said at the time. "I don't think they proved their case."

Young's boyfriend, Lucas Coe, is set to stand trial later this summer on a charge of super aggravated sexual assault.

The final witness in Young's trial today was her 12-year-old Laura Duty, who testified by video. She told jurors that Emma suffered two serious falls on June 27, 2009, the day she died, while in Lucas Coe's care. The first fall was in the family kitchen, where Emma hit her head on a bench, the child testified. The second fall came in the bathroom, where Emma hit her head on a toilet, she said.

Emma arrived dead at an emergency room with 80 bruises and a fractured skull. If convicted, Young faces up to life in prison.

According to prosecutors, Young began having an affair with Coe in 2008, while married to her second husband and Emma's father, Ben Thompson. Coe was facing a pending and unrelated child abuse charge when the two began seeing each other.

Prosecutors have said that as Emma began showing signs of sexual abuse, including a diagnosis of genital herpes three weeks before her death, Young lied to authorities, including denying she was seeing someone.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7104434.html