Conviction Overturned in Scalding Death of Child

In a highly unusual move Friday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge threw out a jury’s verdict against a woman convicted of child abuse for not calling 911 after her 3-year-old foster son was scalded in a bathtub. The boy later died.

Judge Robert J. Perry said that there was insufficient evidence to allow the misdemeanor conviction against Brenda Craney, 38, to stand and that he believed she had been a caring foster mother to Elijah Johnson, an abused child whom she took into her home when he was 6 months old.

Craney’s lawyer, Gail Jaffe, called the decision--a surprise to everyone in the courtroom for sentencing--”gutsy.” In a written motion, she had asked for a new trial, not that the conviction be thrown out.

“It is very unusual for a judge to grant a new trial motion, let alone dismiss a case outright,” Jaffe said. “I am very relieved. I think it was the correct decision but not an easy decision because of media presence in this case.”

In February, a Los Angeles jury acquitted Craney’s daughter, Leona Hightower, 24, of second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault and two counts of child abuse. But the same jury convicted Craney of misdemeanor child abuse.

Elijah, who lived with Craney on West 49th Street in Los Angeles, died May 10, 1999, after receiving burns over 46% of his body.

About two weeks earlier, Hightower was watching him while Craney went to pick up her other children at their grandmother’s. Prosecutors said Hightower got irritated with the boy and dipped him into scalding water.

Hightower’s attorneys argued that the death was accidental. Hightower, they said, had drawn herself a bath when the boy said he needed to use the bathroom. Elijah apparently climbed onto the rim of the tub and fell in without her noticing, they said.

Craney came home a short time later to find the child severely burned. Rather than dial 911, she called a social worker, following procedures for foster parents set by the county Department of Children and Family Services. A social worker, who testified at trial, said she told Craney not to do anything until she got to the house.

Medical testimony showed that, even if Craney had called paramedics immediately, the boy still would probably have died.