Woman takes plea in baby’s death

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 | 10:07 a.m.

A North Las Vegas woman who twice balked at a plea bargain in the scalding death of her 2-year-old daughter has changed her mind again and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

Shonea Greene, 20, initially turned down an agreement in August that she plead guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Dezjanea Taylor. She then took the deal just six days before the scheduled start of her trial last December.

But Greene changed her mind at the sentencing hearing on March 6 and asked to withdraw the plea.

At a hearing Monday, after consulting with court-appointed private attorney Michael Villani, she decided to once again take the plea and is scheduled to be sentenced by District Judge Kathy Hardcastle at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Prosecutors have maintained that Taylor, who was scalded over 60 percent of her body, was frequently disciplined for regressing in her potty training by being dipped into hot water.

She died Feb. 6, 1999, at University Medical Center, two days after she was burned.

"I talked with her (Greene) about what was in her best interest, and she decided to take the plea," said Villani, who was appointed by Hardcastle to review the matter and determine once and for all what Green wants to do.

"If she had decided to go forward, I would have filed (to withdraw the plea)."

On Monday, Hardcastle reappointed Deputy Public Defender Drew Christensen as Greene's attorney. Christensen had represented Greene during her initial plea offer acceptance.

Hardcastle can either sentence Greene to life in prison or 25 years in prison. In either case, she won't be eligible for parole until she has served 10 years in prison.

Attorney Ossie Fumo, who represented Greene at her preliminary hearing in Justice Court, said Green turned down the plea bargain initially after she decided to put her faith in God and stand trial on a charge of first-degree murder. If convicted she could have spent the rest of her life behind bars.

As part of the plea bargain, Greene gets to take advantage of a legal provision that does not require her to admit responsibility. She need only acknowledge that prosecutors likely could prove their case.

Deputy District Attorneys Doug Herndon and Vickie Monroe prosecuted the case.

They maintained that Taylor was intentionally placed into the intensely hot water and held there. North Las Vegas Police said the water was so hot it scalded 60 percent of the girl's skin.

Prosecutors said that had Greene gone to trial the jury would have been told that she stabbed her husband following an argument just two days before Taylor was scalded. No charges were filed in the domestic dispute incident.

The district attorney's office, however, has acknowledged that the medical evidence was complicated and that Greene had no prior criminal record -- factors that led to the offer of the plea because it guarantees significant prison time.

The family lived in a North Las Vegas Housing Authority apartment at 1634 Stocker St., court records show. Greene's three other children have been made wards of the state and are being cared for by relatives.