County Officials May Testify in Baby’s Death

The Pamela Rother trial starting this morning could put more than the mother accused of starving her baby to death on trial, with her defense attorney planning to call about a dozen county officials to the stand.

But prosecutors will ask a judge to limit the defense’s evidence and keep the testimony focused on the Ojai Valley woman’s alleged negligence--not the government’s response to her case.

“It is clear that the defense seeks to put the [Ventura County] Sheriff’s Department and the Public Social Services Agency on trial for the death of baby Rachael, which would constitute a blatant abuse of the judicial process and fuel an unnecessary media circus,” prosecutors maintain in a 14-page motion.

Public defender Douglas W. Dailey said he plans to argue during the projected three-day trial that the two county agencies “dropped the ball” when they returned the baby to Rother a month before the toddler’s death.

Rother, 32, is charged with felony child negligence that led to the starvation of her 2-month-old daughter Feb. 22. She faces up to 10 years in state prison if convicted.

Her non-jury trial is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. before Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele, who is expected to rule on the prosecution’s motion before opening statements.

On Jan. 12, an anonymous call to 911 about Rother’s alleged erratic behavior and drug abuse prompted sheriff’s deputies to break down her trailer door and take the baby to Ojai Valley Hospital for an evaluation.

After interviews with social service officials and deputies, Rachael Catherine Rother was returned to her mother later in the evening. Doctors concluded the infant was slightly underweight but healthy.

“I do think they did see some problems” before the baby’s death, Dailey said.

But in filing his objection to that defense, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley said that line of inquiry blames others for Rother’s neglect. He said Rother is the only one on trial.

“This is an attempt to push responsibility off on the government,” Frawley said. “I don’t want the trial to point the finger at someone else.”

An internal review after the toddler’s death concluded that child-welfare workers acted properly, said James E. Isom, head of the social services agency. He dismissed Dailey’s claims as a smoke screen.

“On that particular call, we had no legal reason to take that child,” Isom said. “If we knew then what we know now . . . hindsight is wonderful.”

He said he is confident that his department did everything it could given the facts it knew at the time. He said his caseworkers offered to put Rother in a drug-treatment program.

“I don’t know what you can do with an adult who doesn’t want any help,” he said.

Rother was arrested in The Wheel bar four days after authorities were called to her ramshackle trailer north of Ojai and found the dead, malnourished baby. Neighbors told police that Rother abused methamphetamines, frequently talked to herself and claimed the federal government had her under surveillance.

The same neighbors told police that Rother threw out a three-month supply of baby formula and stopped bottle feeding her infant after accusing neighbors of poisoning the formula. They said Rother then tried unsuccessfully to breast feed the baby.

She has been held on $250,000 bond since the baby’s death.

A grand jury indicted Rother on the child-abuse charge, declining a prosecutor’s request for a homicide charge.

Dailey said he forsook a jury trial because of the “highly charged and emotional” circumstances of a dead baby. Steele will hand down the verdict.

“The judge will consider only the facts,” Dailey said.