Mother Admits to Child Abuse in Twins’ Death

A 24-year-old Oceanside woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of felony child abuse and neglect in connection with her failure to obtain medical assistance for her newborn twins, who died after a botched abortion attempt.

After a plea-bargaining session, Vickie Judkins pleaded guilty to the child-abuse charges before San Diego Municipal Judge H. Ronald Domnitz. In exchange, manslaughter charges against her were dismissed.

Prosecutors filed the felony charges in October against Judkins and her mother, Ida Belle Franks, 47, after learning from a neighbor that the two women had disposed of Judkins’ babies in trash bins.

Possible Six-Year Term

Judkins is scheduled to be sentenced May 18. If convicted, she could receive six years in prison, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Harry Elias.

But Elias said the defendant is seeking to arrange a work program as an alternative to prison. If an acceptable probation program is found, the prosecution will consider it as a viable option, he said.

The two felony charges are still pending against Franks, whose preliminary hearing Tuesday was continued until April 20 because her attorney had a schedule conflict.

Prosecutors said that Judkins, after deciding her family could not afford another child, attempted to abort the pregnancy using a Lysol-soaked straw. She and her husband, Marine Lance Cpl. Willie Paul Judkins, have two other children. He was not charged.

The crude procedure proved unsuccessful, however, and Judkins gave birth to premature twins a few days after Christmas, 1987.

Prosecutors alleged that Judkins and her mother wrapped the still-living infants in plastic trash bags and tossed them in separate bins along Interstate 5 between Oceanside and Los Angeles.

The defendants told authorities that the infants were born alive in the Judkinses’ Oceanside apartment, but they said the babies had stopped breathing before they were disposed of.

According to medical experts, the infants might have been saved if emergency medical aid had been summoned to the apartment shortly after their birth.

Prosecutors initially balked at charging the women, noting that no bodies were recovered and there was a lack of other physical evidence. But key evidence that was developed from blood stains on a mattress that Judkins said she gave birth on led to the prosecutors’ action.