Dismissal of murder charges sought in child-care case

Bill Gang

Thursday, June 25, 1998 | 11:02 a.m.

Alicia Wegner was blamed for the death of a 14-month-old girl in her care more than a year ago, but her attorney says prosecutors did not present the full picture to a grand jury and is asking that the charges be dropped.

Attorney Peter Christiansen has alleged in court documents that prosecutors could have and should have uncovered the evidence of prior abuse and presented it to the Clark County Grand Jury that indicted Wegner on murder charges March 28, 1997.

Christiansen alleged prosecutorial misconduct in a motion he filed earlier this month to dismiss the charges.

Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon countered that his office never had clear evidence of the purported prior abuse. He said the relevant evidence in the case has come from doctors and the county's medical examiner who said the fatal skull fracture occurred within three hours of the March 3, 1997, death of Kierra Harrison.

The healing injury was at least 48 hours old, pathologists concluded.

District Judge Mark Gibbons has postponed this week's trial for Wegner, 34, until after he rule's next month on Christiansen's motion to dismiss the charges.

Kierra was being cared for in Wegner's licensed home child care business near Twain Avenue and Tenaya Way when the woman called police to say the infant had hit her head and was unresponsive.

Christiansen said Dr. Craig A. Voss, a UMC pathologist, concluded "the injury which killed Kierra Harrison was inflicted at least 48 hours before (her death)."

Kierra's death occurred on a Monday afternoon and, according to Christiansen, the girl had been with her parents and not Wegner throughout the prior weekend.

Christiansen stated in court documents that the evidence of the healing wound "absolutely exonerates" Wegner.

"She's maintained her innocence to me from day one," Christiansen said of his client, who is free on bail until her trial.