Mother Gives Birth, Then Receives Her Sentence

This was the morning Laura Heymer had dreaded, the day of reckoning: Reporting to Vista Superior Court on Friday to be dispatched to jail for as much as a year, leaving behind the newborn daughter that until now had kept her free.

Instead, both mother and daughter will serve time together--but not behind bars. Superior Court Judge Ronald Praeger placed Heymer and her infant in a residential alcohol and drug-treatment program.

Heymer had pleaded guilty to driving drunk in 1990, and was originally sent to the Las Colinas jail for women in Santee last October--even though the pregnant woman’s due date was just days off.

Praeger changed his mind a few days later and ordered Heymer released so she could keep her plans to give birth at Palomar Medical Center. It would be less stressful for both baby and mother, her doctor said.

Fine, Praeger said, but be back in my courtroom after the first of the year. It won’t be any easier, Praeger warned, leaving your daughter behind after she’s born.

On Friday, Heymer was back before Praeger, and he admonished her about the seriousness of her crime--of becoming so drunk in August, 1990, at a girlfriend’s birthday celebration at an Oceanside restaurant that she ran a red light and rammed another car on the way home, injuring both occupants of the other car. Heymer was not hurt.

This is an offense worthy of jail, Praeger said.

Heymer was crying, steeling herself to leave behind newborn Melissa, who was born Oct. 25, as well as her two sons, Zachery, 8, and Eddie, 4.

Heymer, 31, was hoping to be sentenced to Options for Recovery. She had done her homework over Christmas vacation and learned about this private, nonprofit foundation. It operates a residential program in Escondido for about 30 women who need treatment for alcohol or drug abuse.

Some are there voluntarily; others are sent there by the county Department of Social Services.

And some judges send young mothers to Options for Recovery instead of jail so they can keep their babies with them.

Put me there, please, she asked Praeger. It’s like being under house arrest, but under supervised conditions with classes on parenting and counseling for drug and alcohol abuse. There are support groups and preventive programs and things that will help me, Heymer said.

She said she would speak to local high schools about the dangers of alcohol and drugs, acknowledging that she’s done both in her past.

She presented a letter from Jewish Family Services, in support of her request. And a letter from her baby’s pediatrician. And even the counselor from Options for Recovery had words for the judge about how Heymer would be a good candidate for this out-of-jail alternative.

Praeger looked ever stern, Heymer thought. Then, he granted Heymer’s wish.

Go to Escondido, he told her. Attend your classes. Learn parenting skills. Preach the evils of drugs and alcohol to high school students.

And take care of your baby, he said.

“He sounded so gruesome, so serious, when he first started talking to me,” Heymer said. “I thought for sure I was going to jail. He was telling me all the reasons why I should go to jail. Then, he went for this, the Options for Recovery.

“I’m just ecstatic!”