No jail in childcare provider abuse case

By Chris Dumond

Published: November 18, 2008

A childcare provider who pleaded guilty Tuesday to abusing two children will not spend any time in jail because of problems with the evidence in the case, a prosecutor said.

Latanya Murphy, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony child abuse in Lynchburg Circuit Court. Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Janell Johnson told the judge she agreed to the suspended sentence because Murphy had no prior record, both children recovered and because one child’s injuries were not reported until several days after they were inflicted.

Judge Leyburn Mosby said he thought the woman should have spent some time in jail, but honored the agreement.

In an earlier hearing, Lakisha Dickerson said Murphy had been providing child care to her baby for about two weeks when the woman called her and told her her child wasn’t breathing properly.

After a trip to Lynchburg General Hospital, where a CT scan showed the child’s brain was bleeding, the child was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.

There, Dickerson testified, doctors found bleeding behind the baby’s eyes as well. Doctors told the mother her baby had either fallen or had been dropped on her head.

Sharon Bondurant, the forensic nurse who examined another baby in Murphy’s care that had been taken to Lynchburg General Hospital, testified the baby had more than a dozen bruises on her head, stomach, legs, arms and back.

Johnson said Murphy told investigators that the first child’s injuries could have been caused by rough handling of her carrier. The second child could have been bruised when Murphy took her out of a walker, Johnson said she told police.

Murphy’s lawyer, William Quillian, said her actions were not intentional and that she pleaded guilty in order to get the situation behind her.