Defense attorneys seek to toss out indictment in child’s death

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 | 11 a.m.

Attorneys for a former Child Haven worker accused of killing her foster child are asking for her indictment to be dismissed.

Special Public Defender Phil Kohn and Deputy Special Public Defender Kristina Wildeveld contend that prosecutors gave improper instructions to the grand jury that indicted Sheila Logan on first-degree murder charges.

The prosecutors told the grand jurors that there are certain crimes where malice is automatically assumed and one of those crimes is murder by child abuse.

However, a recent Nevada Supreme Court decision indicates that prosecutors must prove malice to get a murder by child abuse indictment, the defense attorneys argue.

According to the Supreme Court ruling, "it is critical that jurors expressly find malice aforethought before convicting a child abuser of first-degree murder. Otherwise, a single rash, impulsive act by an otherwise decent parent leading to a child's death -- an act which was abusive to the child, but lacked legal malice -- would constitute first-degree murder."

Had the grand jurors been given the proper instructions, they would never have indicted Logan because she lacked malice, Kohn said.

Evans Watkins died at University Medical Center on July 11, 1996, after Logan noticed he had stopped breathing and called for an ambulance, which took the child to UMC.

The 21-month-old baby's death was originally ruled accidental, but a second pathologist, who was consulted by detectives, decided the baby's internal head injuries were caused by nonaccidental trauma.

Logan and her husband, Larry Logan, told police that the baby, who was born addicted to crack cocaine, began having problems the day before he died when Larry Logan playfully tossed the baby into the air.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle is expected to issue a ruling Nov. 8.