Mother Guilty of Neglect in Baby’s Death

Baby Rachael Catherine Rother’s death from starvation earlier this year is her mother’s fault, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele took no time in convicting Pamela Rother, 32, of felony child neglect after attorneys wrapped up the three-day trial with brief closing arguments.

Rother burst into tears after Steele announced his decision seconds after Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley concluded his argument. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced Sept. 7.

“The . . . fact in this case is that the baby went 14 days without food,” Steele said.

The infant was found dead Feb. 22 in the same place she was born, a dilapidated and unkempt trailer north of Ojai. Four days later, Rother was arrested after an autopsy showed the baby starved to death.

Doctors testified that the infant went without food for at least two weeks before she died. Investigators also testified that Rother tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana use the night the baby died and again the night she was arrested.

Prosecutors had hoped to put Rother on trial for murder, but the Ventura County grand jury in April returned an indictment on the lesser charge, felony child neglect. The jury members did not give a reason for the decision.

“That her maximum [sentence] is 10 years comes as a great shock,” Frawley said outside the courtroom. “A woman can kill her child and go to prison for only five years--that shocks the conscience.”

State prisoners typically serve about 50% of their sentences, Frawley said. Rother’s attorney, Douglas Daily, said he will argue for probation. Daily said Ventura County officials should have taken the child from Rother before the baby died.

“The baby was the most innocent of all victims,” Daily said. “The system failed the child.”

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies kicked in Rother’s front door Jan. 12 and took the baby to a hospital after receiving anonymous reports of neglect. But the child was returned to Rother later that night after a doctor determined the baby was healthy.

During the non-jury trial before Steele, Daily unsuccessfully argued that Rother was not mentally fit to be a mother and therefore not responsible for the 64-day-old child’s starvation. He pointed to her drug use and irrational behavior.

“You can’t resist what is so obvious: her chronic and persistent delusions,” Daily told Steele before the verdict.

Witnesses testified that Rother occasionally ran through the streets of her neighborhood near Ojai screaming that federal agents were after her. Doctors testified that she told them of a nonexistent twin sister, but none testified that she was legally insane.

Steele sided with prosecutors and said that Rother should be held responsible for the baby’s death.

“It is hard to be out of touch with reality for 14 days,” Steele said. “The defense did not present one shred of evidence that the defendant was out of touch with reality for 14 days.”

Steele said the fact that friends bought Rother baby formula because they knew that her methamphetamine use would taint her breast milk showed concern for the baby.

“Almost all of the witnesses realize the significance of not using drugs while breast-feeding a baby,” Steele said. “It’s hard for me to believe that she is any different.”