No Charges Filed Against Hartland Couple Accused of Child Abuse
Child Protective Services will start investigation.
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No charges will be filed against a Hartland couple that was arrested earlier this morning on charges of child neglect, according to the Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse.
“The allegations did not constitute criminal child abuse,” Morse said. “Child Protective Services is putting on an investigation and we will then determine whether there’s a basis for filing an abuse and neglect petition.”
According to a report from the Press & Argus, deputies were called to Hartland Meadows around 1 a.m. Monday where officers found “empty beer and wine bottles scattered throughout the home as well as spoiled and moldy food on the furniture and in the refrigerator.”
The children have not been returned to their parents, according to Morse, and the Livingston County sheriff’s department confirms that the couple has been released.
hartland eagle
7:03 pm on Monday, May 7, 2012
Wow, the prosecutor's on a roll here. Apparently May is amnesty month.
NotLazy
7:06 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Yes, I found this very interesting, and somewhat discouraging. I wonder what the definition of "neglect" really means to the prosecutor.
722.602 Definitions.
Sec. 2.
(1) As used in this act:
(a) “Child” means a person under 18 years of age.
(b) “Child abuse” means harm or threatened harm to a child's health or welfare by a person responsible for the child's health or welfare, which harm occurs or is threatened through nonaccidental physical or mental injury; sexual abuse, which includes a violation of section 145c of the Michigan penal code, Act No. 328 of the Public Acts of 1931, being section 750.145c of the Michigan Compiled Laws.
(d) “Neglect” means harm to a child's health or welfare by a person responsible for the child's health or welfare which occurs through negligent treatment, including the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.
sassyme
8:33 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
And the bitterness continues!
hartland eagle
9:36 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Yes, Sassy. I'm bitter, that's it. The prosecutor shouldn't put this before a judge to decide? Wow. Seems pretty compelling to me.
From the Livingston Daily...
Inside the home, deputies found a path wide enough for one person cutting through trash that covered the floor and countertops.
“There wasn’t anywhere that anything was clean for someone to sit down,” Bezotte said.
Officers found empty beer and wine bottles scattered throughout the home as well as spoiled and moldy food on the furniture and in the refrigerator.
Bezotte said Taco Bell boxes were affixed to the wall to cover holes and there were chunks of dry wall missing in other parts. There also were several ants, flies and other bugs in the home.
A large mouse also was seen running through the house, which had a “horrible odor,” police said.
When deputies opened a dryer it had a “strong odor” of urine, Bezotte said.
Mixed in the debris were new electronics including a flat screen television and laptop.
Bezotte said the father, identified only as a 42-year-old man, told police that he “knew it was a matter of time” before someone came to take the children, two of whom have been diagnosed with autism-related conditions.
“He said the home has been in that condition for a year,” the sheriff said. “He said the kids made it that way and they were unable to keep up with cleaning it.”
Roy B.
11:00 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
I agree, this should have been up to a judge.
NotLazy
7:12 am on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
I think the bitterness is coming from sassyme....
sassyme
11:35 am on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
LOL
sassyme
11:44 am on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The answer to why it's neglect and not abuse is in "NotLazy" posts above which defines abuse and neglect. Abuse is "harm occurs or is threatened through nonaccidental physical or mental injury; sexual abuse, which includes a violation of section 145c of the Michigan penal code, Act No. 328 of the Public Acts of 1931, being section 750.145c of the Michigan Compiled Laws."
There wasn't a complaint regarding physical or sexual abuse. The complaint was neglect due to the living conditions. Now whether the neglect can also be claimed as mental abuse will depend upon CPS investigation (the kids etc., will have to be interviewed). Once the investigation is done then it goes to the prosecuting attorney, if required.
Question, where is the self-appointed moderator of threads of Hartland patch?
NotLazy
12:56 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Sassyme, I think we agree that on the surface this looks like a neglect case rather than abuse. However I still feel that the prosecutor is relying too much on CPS, when he himself can file neglect charges, possibly under 4th degree Child Abuse (MCL 750.136b) which requires lesser intent.
sassyme
5:39 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
NotLazy,
from what I've seen, it takes a lot for that to occur. The legal system should error on the side of the child but that usually doesn't happen. The matra seems to be, a child in a bad home, is better than in no home.
Call me cynical but again, that's what I've seen.
Angela
7:01 pm on Sunday, May 13, 2012
The legal system should err on the side of the family. Only a well intentioned someone who has never been through the foster system seriously thinks that the kids will be better off with the State than they are their parents.
sassyme
11:17 am on Monday, May 21, 2012
You can't be serious. The child should always be protected, not the adult.