Arizona Drug and Alcohol News
Arizona Grandma admits role in baby death
Sobbing and swaying side to side, a 45-year-old Phoenix, Arizona woman reluctantly
admitted in court Wednesday that her secondhand crack-cocaine smoke contributed
to the death of her newborn granddaughter.
Lillian Butler could barely be heard as she answered "yes" when Maricopa
County, Arizona Superior Court Judge Greg Martin asked if she was changing her
plea to guilty of child abuse in the Nov. 9, 2001, death of 10-day-old Anndreah
Robertson.
Demitres Robertson, the baby's mother, pleaded guilty earlier this month to
manslaughter in the baby's death and faces eight to 15 years in prison when
she is sentenced Aug. 22.
As Martin repeated the terms of a plea agreement to her, Butler shook and cried
uncontrollably, prompting the judge to tell her, "Mrs. Butler, you have
to listen to me."
Struggling for composure, she listened quietly for a few moments when he reminded
her that under the agreement she could face two to seven years in prison when
she is sentenced Sept. 5.
When Martin asked her if she admitted endangering her granddaughter by smoking
crack cocaine in her presence, she said, "I guess."
" 'I guess' isn't good enough," Martin told her.
After a few moments, she whispered, "Yes."
She continued to cry in the courtroom after the proceeding was over. "This
is wrong," she said.
Earlier in the day it appeared that plea negotiations, which had been under
way for several weeks, would collapse.
Her attorney, James Cleary of the Maricopa, Arizona Legal Defender's Office,
said in an interview that Butler resisted the plea deal because she isn't convinced
crack-cocaine smoke contributed to her granddaughter's death.
On the strength of an autopsy, Maricopa County, Arizona prosecutors charged
that secondhand crack smoke played a role in the baby's death, causing her organs
to decay.
Exposing fetuses to drugs is not a crime in Arizona and most states. Exposing
them to drugs after birth is illegal.
Cleary said he feared that if the case had gone to trial, a "jury might
not have understood the difference."
