Faced with what they called a “circumstantial case,” Baltimore City prosecutors on Tuesday agreed to a plea deal that allowed the mother of 2-year-old girl who died of methadone poisoning to avoid jail time.
Baltimore City Assistant State?s Attorney Ernie Reitz said prosecutors were in the “unenviable position” of trying to prove that Vernice Harris, 31, and not someone else, poisoned Bryanna Harris with methadone.
“No child who is properly cared for should die from methadone intoxication,” he said.
Harris, 31, pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the 2007 death of Bryanna. Judge Timothy Doory sentenced her to five years of probation in which she will undergo mental health and drug-treatment services.
Harris was charged Dec. 22 with the first-degree murder of her daughter in June ? after a medical examiner?s report showed “a substantial amount” of methadone coupled with blunt-force trauma to the abdomen caused the child?s death.
In charging documents, officers alleged that when Harris was with her friends, she would give Bryanna methadone “to keep her quiet.”
“Witnesses supplied taped statements that Vernice Harris would beat Bryanna Ashley Harris all the time for no reason other than asking for food or to be held,” homicide Detective Irvin Bradley wrote in his report. “They also stated that when Vernice Harris had her drug-addicted friends over, she didn?t have time for the child.”
Medics rushed Bryanna from the 1700 block of East 25th Street at 3:30 a.m. on June 5, 2007, after Harris called 911 once she found her daughter wasn?t breathing.
Investigators found the home “in disarray,” with the dwelling infested with roaches, police said.
Since being locked up, Harris? mental conditional has badly deteriorated, said her attorney, Maureen Rowland.
When asked if the deal was too light, Rowland, who believes someone else gave the baby methadone, responded:
“Is it right that an innocent person was convicted of a crime for something she didn?t do?”
Reitz said the plea deal allows Harris to “received the treatment she so desperately needs.”
