Mother gets probation in death of 3-year-old son

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 8:17 a.m.

The 18-year-old mother charged in the death of her 3-year-old son was sentenced to five years' probation on Monday after she worked out a deal with prosecutors.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle sentenced Essence Caldwell to eight to 20 years in prison after Caldwell pleaded guilty to a single felony count of child neglect causing substantial bodily harm.

But Hardcastle suspended the prison sentence and placed Caldwell on a fixed period of probation for five years. Caldwell was also ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution and attend domestic violence and parenting classes.

Caldwell and her boyfriend, Darius Rucker, 21, were arrested after Caldwell's son, Stephen, died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center on July 24. The toddler was Caldwell's only child.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Vickie Monroe said prosecutors negotiated the case because authorities believe Rucker, not Caldwell, caused the abuse that led to the child's death.

"Our theory is that he was abusing the child and that she had knowledge and failed to protect" the boy, Monroe said.

Rucker, who faces murder and child abuse charges, has not negotiated his case. He is set to stand trial on the charges on Feb. 9 before Hardcastle.

Authorities said the child was severely dehydrated and covered with adult bite marks, abrasions, bruises and cuts. Investigators said the child died from blunt force trauma.

Caldwell's attorney, Deputy Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson, said she was grateful prosecutors had acknowledged that her client was not directly responsible for the child's death.

"I think it's an appropriate resolution," she said. "They did the right thing."

Jackson said dental impressions taken to determine the origin of the bite marks on the child's body proved Rucker was the abuser.

"His (teeth) are a perfect match and hers were excluded," she said.

Caldwell had pleaded guilty during a November hearing. In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a second charge of second-degree murder by child abuse.

A conviction for second-degree murder is punishable by a sentence of life imprisonment with parole eligibility after 10 years, Jackson said.

According to court records, Rucker told police that he was in the Emerald Suites apartment in the 3600 block of West Tropicana Avenue when Stephen collapsed and stopped breathing.

By the time emergency workers arrived, the boy had no pulse and had green bile blocking his airway. He arrived at Sunrise Hospital in full cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead minutes later.

Court records show police had responded to complaints of slapping sounds and a child crying in the motel room less than a month before the child's death.

Police at that time wrote in their reports they didn't see any evidence that Stephen was being abused, however, so they left after pointing out to Stephen's mother that the child looked dehydrated and should be taken to a doctor.