OJAI : Motion Denied in Child-Abuse Case

Defense attorneys have not determined whether to present evidence of psychological problems at the trial of an Ojai woman accused of starving her infant daughter to death, a public defender said Friday.

The statement came after prosecutors asked a Ventura County judge to force attorneys representing accused child-abuser Pamela Rother to furnish them with results of a psychological exam administered to the defendant.

But Acting Superior Court Judge Steven Hintz denied the motion, after Deputy Public Defender Douglas W. Daily said his office had not decided whether to present results of the psychological test as part of Rother’s defense.

Two-month-old Rachael Catherine Rother died Feb. 22. as a result of starvation, an autopsy showed.

The county grand jury indicted the mother on child-abuse charges, but refused to a request by prosecutors to charge her with the more serious crime of homicide.

Neighbors have said that before the baby’s death, Rother frequently talked to herself and claimed that the federal government had her under surveillance.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley said the defense hired a psychologist to exam Rother about three months ago.

Under court discovery rules, each side in a criminal case must furnish the other side with information it plans to present at trial.

Hintz set Rother’s trial for July 21.